Snowed In
by snowglobe18
Summary: When Molly gets snowed in with the James family will she and Charles finally talk everything through and work through their problems? Or will being snowed in with her husband cause them to take the ultimate step and get that divorce?
1. Chapter 1

The words that her friend was saying was going in and out of her ears and honestly it felt like she was having this weird out of body experience that she really didn't want to have especially when she had been trying to listen.

"Molly..."

Molly shook her head slightly and then looked up "Sorry, what did you say?" she asked and then grabbed hold of her tea before she took a drink of it. Molly had been doing that a lot lately, just zoning out of everything but she guessed that it was mostly down to the fact that sometimes what people said were just shit and rather than have to answer she just toned it out.

"Again?" her friend, Sarah, said and then stopped to look over at the dark haired woman before she finally said "I asked what you were doing for Christmas this year, you going to see your parents?"

"I can't actually believe that it is almost Christmas" she admitted. It seems to come around faster and faster each year and now it was almost upon them once again.

Sarah gave a smile and then nodded. "It does come around this time every year" If she was honest she wasn't sure she would be able to deal with half of the stuff that Molly has had to deal with. That girl was strong but at the same time she felt like she should help in some way to get her talking with Charles even if it looked like that was the last thing Molly wanted to do.

They hadn't know each other from the beginning of their relationship, Sarah and Molly had become friends when Sarah's husband and Molly were on the same tour. Now they sat and chatted as often as they could.

Molly chewed on her lip and she remembered just what she was going to be doing this year. "Well seeing as we were at my parents last year we were meant to be having Christmas in Bath but I guess that won't be happening so I might spend it with mum and dad, they will probably invite me nan around too"

"Have you spoken to him lately?" Sarah asked and sat down at the table with a cuppa.

Molly shook her head, she didn't actually want to speak to him at the moment but that might be down to the fact that the last time she had spoken to him had been after he got back from being MIA. She remembered getting the knock at the door and seeing them standing there telling her about the fact that her husband was missing, that all of the section had been missing too.

It had shook Molly to the core and she had to make sure that they told her the outcome either way. The waiting had been the most hardest thing ever, waiting to see whether or not her husband would be coming back alive. Only six months before that she had heard about him getting hurt in the jungle and Molly wondered whether or not they really should be going through this every time he left the country on some tour.

She had hated herself for asking about those bloody chest of drawers like they were important at the time. Molly had just wanted to talk to him and she came up with the most lame excuse to talk to her husband and now she was the owner of those damn drawers.

"I wouldn't know what to say even if i did speak to him" she admitted.

"Well I suppose that is what happens when you find out that he slept with another woman" Sarah watched Molly and took a drink from her cup.

Molly couldn't be around them after that, she even got rid of them from her Facebook account because she couldn't stand to watch them be in a relationship. Couldn't stand for her friend and her husband being together. Georgie had tried to explain but Molly set her straight then told her to piss off and not to darken her life ever again.

Molly hasn't heard from her again.. Thankfully.

But she always feels as if it's going to be short lived, she thinks that some how she will end up seeing Georgie again and honestly that was the last thing she even needs.

"What about you? What you doing for Christmas?" Molly asked.

"Dan's mum and dad are coming for the day"

"Oh poor you" Molly let a smile pull at her lips because she knew that Sarah and Dan's mum really didn't get on, in fact that woman could make the poor woman's life a misery sometimes but she mostly managed to put some distance between the two and being stuck here at Christmas with monster-in-law was definitely something that Molly didn't want to experience. She had been lucky when it came to Charles' mother because of the fact that Mrs James was actually lovely.

"She still hasn't forgiven me for breaking her lamp when I first met her" Sarah sighed.

Molly couldn't help but laugh and it even made Sarah smile. Christmas really was going to be hell for the woman.

The two females sat and talked for a little bit longer mostly because of the fact that Molly was a little bit lonely and she needed to catch up with her friend but the one thing she didn't want to be thinking about was what she would be doing over Christmas

-.-

There was a part of her that wanted to stay where she was but of course that was like twisting fate and in the end would probably end up going home anyway.

Home was a noisy place and even though her mum and dad still found space for her she knew it was definitely overcrowded and now liked to have some sort of space and not be watched all the time.

But she did have those presents that she had brought for Sam and maybe if she could give them to Rebecca then maybe he would get them in time for Christmas.

Molly left her friend and headed back to her own place and she went through her phone book and found the number that she had been looking for. She gave Rebecca a call, they weren't exactly the best of friends, and found out that Sam would in fact be in Bath for Christmas and would be heading to hers on Boxing Day. Which seemed to fit in with what they had planned. Sam would be spending Christmas in Bath with Molly, Charles and Sam's grandparents and then Rebecca's the next day. It worked out for them and she loved having Sam around and being in Charles' family home.

She sighed in resignation and knew that if she wanted to give the gifts to Sam then she would have to head to Bath, and then on to London, to give them to him. She loved that kid more than anything but looking his father in the face was going to be a big challenge especially when they haven't exactly spoken in a while.

Later that night she was packing some of her stuff up so that she could be ready to leave in the morning and she was listening to the weather report and apparently the country would be getting some snow over the next few days and Molly scoffed. "So that means nothing then" she shook her head and then went back to making sure that she had everything she would need for a few days in London.

Although saying that whenever the country got snow it would literally fall apart and that was the last thing she really needed especially when she had to head back to her place.

She looked at the chest of drawers with a distasteful look and wondered why the hell she even had them especially when she didn't actually want them in the first place. Molly headed out of her bedroom and grabbed her phone off of the coffee table and rang her mum.

"Hi mum it's me.." she then held the phone away from her ear and laughed because there was a lot of calling out to her when Belinda said that it was her who was calling. "Wow that was noisy" she smiled. "Yeah I will be home for Christmas if that's alright and please don't say that dad is cooking" she teased. "Oh good it's Nan that's cooking" Molly was actually very glad about that. She chewed on her lip for a moment "Okay, great well i'll see you tomorrow then, love you mum.. bye" she sighed a breath of relief and was actually glad that she would be able to stay there, even if the house was a little crowded but at least she wouldn't be on her own this Christmas.

She just wasn't looking forward to heading to Bath but she would do it for Sam.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning found Molly waiting at the station to get on her train, she had woken up to find that it was really grey this morning which seems nothing unusual for the typical British weather but she remembered what had been said the night before and wondered whether or not it would actually happen.

Whether or not Britain would actually get that white Christmas that they had been wanting for years.

It seemed as if everything seemed to be happening this year and now to add on a white Christmas well that just seemed a little bit out there but again this year had been a little strange.

Molly got on her train and was actually seated, that was a little bit of a shocker if she's honest, most of the times she's taken a train and hasn't managed to get a seat. Bloody trains. She put her earphones in and listened to some music once she was on her way to Bath.

It was when she was looking out the window that she realised the heavens had opened up and it was snowing. She blinked a couple times just to see if she was seeing what she was seeing but nope it definitely was snowing. That was something she had never expected, mostly because of the fact that she hadn't expected it to even snow in the first place.

She moved her eyes away from the window and looked around and there was this couple that was on the train a few seats in front on her left hand side and she watched them and felt this pain in her heart mostly because of how much she missed her husband and Molly wasn't sure she could even comprehend what had really happened. Mostly because of the fact that it still seems like a dream.

Molly looked away and down to her mobile when she felt it vibrate and it was a message from Sarah and Dan's mum was already driving her around the bend. She had to smile at that because she knew just how much they never really got on.

-.-

The train finally came to Bath and she felt those nerves settle back in once more, it was something that she couldn't actually handle and mostly because she knew that there was a huge possibility that Charles was going to be there. Molly was hoping that maybe she could actually be lucky and he wouldn't be there maybe up the shop or something but things were never really that easy.

It was even snowing in Bath and she managed to get a taxi and settled back in the seat before checking her mobile every few minutes. Maybe if she texted ahead... or rang Mrs James then maybe she could send Charles out for a few hours and they wouldn't see each other...

But whatever it was Molly was going to do then she didn't do it fast enough because she was outside of the house, she paid the taxi driver and got out before she collected her stuff from the boot. The snow was really starting to come down now and she remembered the first Christmas here at the James house and her first date here after Charles got out of the hospital. She remembered thinking just how amazing it actually was how it was definitely bigger than the house she grew up in.

"Well it's now or never" she muttered to herself and put her bag up on her back before she moved to the door. It was really getting cold out here now or at least colder than it was when she left this morning. She knocked on the door and waited.

Molly looked around and watched as the snow started to set on the ground and hoped that it would be clear enough for when she left mostly because she wasn't sure she could stay for very long especially when this was probably going to be the most awkward visit she has ever done.

The door opened and she turned around and standing in the open doorway was a young boy and his face lit up when he saw her and Molly's did the same because no matter what happened with her and Charles she really did love Sam.

"Molly!" Sam said happily and then rushed to her and put his arms around her, giving her the tightest hug he could.

"Hi mate" Molly replied and gave him a tight hug back too, being careful not to squash the presents that she had for him, and honestly it felt like she was coming home to her own family. Well Sam was her family because he was her step-son and even though she had been really shocked to find out that Charles had a son she had soon started to love him like he was her own.

"Dad never said that you were coming" Sam spoke and then pulled back from the hug to look at her properly.

"He doesn't know at the moment," she admitted and gave a soft smile. "is he in?"

"No, Grandma sent him out to get some thing"

Molly felt a little bit mixed in emotions over that, she wasn't sure if she was meant to feel relief or disappointed that Charles wasn't here right now. She was about to speak again but then she looked up and saw Charles' mum standing there. "Mrs James" she said with another soft smile.

"Molly, how many times do I have to ask you to call me Pam and come in, the weather has turned quite a lot and you will catch a cold" she ushered both her grandson and Daughter-in-law in to the house before shutting the door. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely actually"

Molly looked up at the staircase and she let a small smile pull at her lips because of the fact that she actually loved this house with all the rooms and the staircase and just how big it actually was. Charles was right; it did look amazing at Christmas. She pushed that thought away and followed after her mother-in-law in to the kitchen; her bag and presents still with her because Molly wasn't sure where she should put either one of them.

She took a seat at the kitchen table and put her bags down on the ground at her feet, Sam had disappeared back in to the front room and that left both of the females in the kitchen. Molly waited for a moment and then Charles' mother came over to the table with two cups of tea and for the first time she felt like she could happily sink into the chair she was sitting on and letting all her worries pour out over a cup of tea. Wasn't that what the Brits were known for anyway?

"So how have you been?" Pam asked and sat down on the opposite seat to Molly.

"Good... busy" she ran her finger around the top of the mug.

"Really?" Pam asked and watched her. If there was one position she didn't like being it was in the middle of her son and his wife but she did wonder if anyone asked Molly how she was doing.

"I don't honestly know" Molly admitted and looked up. "I know I probably shouldn't be here but I wanted to bring Sam his presents and..." she didn't know what it was she was going to say at the end of that sentence but whatever it was Molly was sure she shouldn't say it to her mother-in-law. "How is he?"

"He's getting the help that he needs and he's spending more time with Sam which he is definitely happier about"

Molly nodded and chewed on her lip for a moment before she finally said "I suppose that has something to do with Georgie" she hated saying that woman's name but what made her feel confused was the look on Charles' mothers face when she said that, as if she didn't know what Molly meant by that. She watched as Pam opened her mouth to speak once more but a voice caught her off guard.

"Mum..." he called out and shut the door behind him.

"In the kitchen..."

Charles walked towards the kitchen and smiled down at Sam when he came out the front room. "It is getting worst out th- Molly" he said and looked over at his wife sitting at the kitchen table with her mother and for a moment he felt a little bit dumbstruck as to why she would be sitting there when he was sure she would still be at her place or even in London but nope she was sat there, he even blinked a couple of times just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things.

But nope she was still sat there, a cup of tea sitting in front of her.

"Hi Charles" she said after a moment and kept her eyes on his face. It felt like the rest of the people there had just disappeared and it was the two of them again. Molly felt his stare and she kept her own.

He definitely looked better.


	3. Chapter 3

"Come Sam, you can show me that game you were talking about earlier" Pam said and got up from the table and slipped her hand into her grandson's and walked with him out of the kitchen and all they heard was him saying...

"But Grandma..." the door shut behind the both of them so Molly wasn't sure just what would be said afterwards.

The tension in the room was definitely something that Molly hadn't ever felt before not even when they were trying to work out just what they were feeling for each other back in Afghan. It wasn't something she wanted to even repeat again because of this moment. This moment when she should be hugging her husband but right now they were staring at each other as if they couldn't possibly believe that they were here in the first place.

Neither was sure who should break the silence first but in the end Charles was the one to speak first. "Did you decide to bring the divorce papers in?"

Molly was actually a little surprised by that, they hadn't even spoken about divorce and she definitely didn't have any papers on her but there was a part of her that knew they would have to talk about it at some point. Just not at Christmas.

"This isn't EastEnders, Charles. I'm not just going to hand over divorce papers to you on Christmas and then swan off to London, no, I brought Sam's presents in that's all"

Charles nodded once and then leanes back against the counter behind him "Well i'm sure he's going to love whatever it is that you've got" he always did love Molly. That made his heart ache a little because of the fact that _he_ still loved Molly too.

Even after everything.

The silence hit again and Molly wasn't sure if this was the best place to be right now, it was starting to make her wish that she hadn't even come in the first place. They hadn't been like this before but she guessed that this is what happened when relationships broke down. When the guy got a new girlfriend.

"Maybe this was a mistake" Molly said and stood up, grabbing her bags as she did. She put the bag with the presents in on the seat she had just vacated before putting the strap of her own on her shoulder. This definitely was a huge mistake, Molly really needed to get out of here. "I should be getting to London anyway"

Molly moved towards the door and she felt a hand grab hold of her arm and she stopped and looked up into the face of Charles and swallowed hard. Her heart was literally pounding hard in her chest because clearly he still had that affect on her. This was silly because he had already moved on and she had been stupid and ended the marriage and now here they were..

"Molly" he then cleared his throat and let go of her arm. "It's snowing and you know that Britain falls apart in the snow and are you really sure that the trains will be running, hell if _anything_ will be running?"

Molly hadn't actually thought about that and she felt a little bit of panic rise up inside of her, if the trains weren't going to be running and there was no way that she could get a bus then she would be stuck in Bath.

Not just in Bath but in Bath with her husband.

At Christmas.

"Oh shit" she muttered to herself and looked away from Charles before she chewed on her lip. Molly wasn't sure she could really do this right now. She _could_ try for a hotel room and then get the next available train out of Bath and hopefully still make it for Christmas but even Molly knew that it was going to be actual hell to get any sort of transport mostly because of the fact that other people would be trying the same thing.

Plus she wasn't exactly dressed for snow and now she felt a little bit stupid because she had doubted the weather and now there was a load of it.

The kitchen door opened up suddenly and it made both Molly and Charles jump and Molly moved away from him and looked over at who had come into the kitchen and found that it was Sam. "I think Molly will have to stay with us because the trains aren't running. Grandma heard it on the news, you will stay right Molly?" he asked and looked up at his step mother.

There was so many responses to that and she wasn't sure what she could even say but she found her brain and mouth not cooperating because the next thing she said was "I'll stay for tea" she smiled down at Sam and he seemed satisfied with that because he then left the two of them to it and was beaming as he shut the door.

"You know what he's asking, right?"

"Yes," she shut her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Sam was asking her to stay here with them like she used to. "but I cant and you know why" Molly opened her eyes and looked over at Charles once more.

Molly couldn't stay here especially with Lane being with Charles, she couldn't put herself through all of that. For Sam she would stay for tea. For Sam she would make an effort and for Sam she would smile like all of this wasn't killing her inside. Molly had made a mistake and now she was going to live with the fact that she had let the man of her dreams go, she would live with it and move on in the end but for now she would pretend she wasn't dying inside.

She dropped her bag down once more and of course the kitchen door opened again and this time it was Charles' father, he was pretty much covered in the snow and he looked like a snowman. Molly smiled at that fact because for the first time she actually wanted to laugh especially when the old man looked a little bit grumpy.

"That's the first time i've seen you smile when you've been here, Molly"

This was going to be a lot harder than she thought and right now she was surrounded by the entire James family and while before that would have been a comfort but right now she felt a little bit overwhelmed but rather than actually say anything with her words she just nodded before putting her eyes back on Charles' father who said about the snow before he moved over to the table and that was Molly's cue to leave the room and putting her bag by the door.

She had her own family to speak too.

Molly removed her coat and grabbed her mobile out of her pocket and used the whole Charles' father as a distraction to ring her mother.

Belinda answered the phone after about four rings "Oh Molly, I'm glad that you've rang I was worried about you and I did leave a couple of messages!"

"Sorry mum, I've got myself in to a little bit of a situation and now I'm stuck in Bath and I'm not sure if I will be able to make it for Christmas especially with all of this snow"

"In Bath? That does sound like a situation, how is it going?"

"It's killing me mum and I don't know what to do" she admitted and looked in the direction of the kitchen door before down to the ground. "Anyway, don't you worry about me I will be alright and hopefully on the next train whenever one actually leaves this bloody place, just make sure you skype me alright? At least that way I can see your faces on Christmas Day just in case I'm still here"

"I'm your mum, Molls, I'm always going to worry about you but you keep your chin up, alright?" Belinda hated that Molly was in this situation but there wasn't anything she could do this end especially when Molly was so far away. "I love you and i'll see you soon"

"Love you too mum" Molly smiled sadly and then finished the call before putting her mobile into the pocket of her jeans.

Rather than heading back to the kitchen she walked in to the front room and looked out the window at the snow that seemed to be causing so much havoc or at least will be up and down the country. It was usually very pretty but now she was stuck here it felt like the most horrible thing ever.

The door to the front room shut and she turned around to see that she was once alone with Charles and she used to grin, tease him about how he was making this a habit but right now she honestly wasn't sure what she should say but it felt like she didn't have to be the first one to say anything because he did.

"Molly... about Georgie..." he was then cut off from what he was going to say by Molly holding her hand up.

"I don't want to talk about _her_ " she said sadly. "I don't want to talk about any of it right now, I just want to get through this bloody trip and then go to London, if I can, and see my family"

"We are going to have to talk about all of this at some point"

"Maybe you're right but I really don't want to hear about how happy you are with Georgie because I know that I fucked up, okay? I know that everything is a goddamn mess and you've moved on but I don't need to hear about _her_ "

Molly moved from the spot and over to the door, he reached for her arm once more and then said her name in a whisper "Molly, please" she looked up at him at that and held his gaze for a moment.

"No, not right now" she took her arm from his and opened the front room door before moving out of the room and she heard him sigh but she carried on walking towards the kitchen and for the first time in a long while she had thought about smoking again.

It was going to be that kind of week she thinks.


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner that night was definitely a quiet affair, in fact it was actually a little bit awkward because it felt like Charles wanted to catch her eyes but she kept looking away on purpose. Molly had said her piece and would leave it alone. Maybe when Christmas and New Year was over then they could sit and talk but she wasn't going to ruin anyone's Christmas by having a talk that consists of Charles telling her about his new relationship.

Sam looked out the window after dinner at the snow and Molly couldn't help but smile as she started to dry up, she had wanted to be away from the table and had volunteered to dry up especially when it meant that she was busy. "Is it still coming down?" she asked and moved over to the window where Sam was and looked out.

"Yep with very big flakes now!" he was excited because he wasn't sure if he had ever seen snow at Christmas and now they were getting a lot of it. "Do you think I'll be able to make a snowman?" Sam looked up at Molly who was standing behind him.

Molly looked down at him, their eyes locking and for a moment she wished that Sam was their son, he was innocent of all that had gone on. This little boy who loved his dad very much hadn't seen what Molly had seen him go through. Although with how her and Charles were acting right now it was probably a good thing they didn't have any kids. Even if she did love Sam as if he was her own. "With all of that snow you could probably build a lot of snowmen" she smiled down at him and ruffled his blonde hair before moving back to the sink.

"Will you be staying tonight? It is snowing pretty bad out there and it's warm in here"

Molly had to admit that what he was saying was the truth, it _was_ warm here and there was spare bedrooms but at the same time she would be waking up in a house that she shared memories with Charles in and he himself would be in the house so she wasn't sure if there was a good answer to all of that. Sam expected an answer though, Molly could see it in his eyes. "I don't know at the moment, I might just get a hotel room and if I do then I promise to come and see you before I go to London"

"I wish that you were staying, Molly"

"I know mate, come here give me a hug" she put the tea towel on the side and then crouched down before putting her arms out, Sam moved forward instantly and hugged her and she sighed softly. Molly loved this boy so much and maybe she could work out a way with Rebecca so that they could continue to see each other.

The two of them didn't realise that Charles had been standing at the kitchen door listening to the conversation between the two and he looked down at the ground and moved before either one of them knew that he was there.

Molly slowly pulled back from the hug and smiled at Sam then looked over her shoulder and saw Pam coming in to the kitchen. "Everything is dried up and put away" she stood up and ruffled Sam's hair once more.

"You are a star, thank you Molly," her smile warm as she looked at her daughter-in-law before dropping her eyes to her grandson "How about you go and get your pajamas on Sam, we have a long day tomorrow with it being Christmas Eve and all that"

Sam nodded once and then looked up at Molly and smiled "Goodnight Molly" he said and then moved away from her and out of the kitchen. He still hoped that Molly would stay and even wished that she would.

The two females were left in the kitchen when Sam had left and gone upstairs and that gave Pam the perfect opportunity to speak to Molly while no one was around. "Tea?" she asked and held up a cup.

"That would be lovely actually" Molly sat down at the kitchen table and leaned back in the seat with a sigh.

Pam brought the teas over and sat down once more at the table "You know with the weather getting worse you are more than welcome to stay and I know that it's hard especially with the fact that Charles is here and you're surrounded by us James' but really you are welcome to sleep in one of the bedrooms, it'll be better than walking to a hotel especially when you probably won't get a taxi" she smiled softly "but no pressure is being put on you, just make your mind up when you're ready"

Molly smiled her thanks and couldn't believe it but she was actually really considering it. Maybe it could just be for the night and then she might be able to get that train out tomorrow and still make it for Christmas.

Who really knows.

"You still having that party tomorrow night then?"

"Even in snow we never cancel a party and even if it's just the neighbours that can come then it would be called a success"

"With this weather it might just _be_ the neighbours that do come" Molly grins and only then laughs when Pam does.

Molly did wonder if she could still make the woman laugh and it seems like that wasn't something to worry about because the two of them were definitely have a right ol' giggle and for the first time all night she actually felt like she was welcome there and that made a warm feeling appear inside of her especially when most of the night she had felt nothing but cold.

The two sit and talk for a little bit about all the party food and Molly is glad that it's something other than Pam asking just how everything went wrong between her and Charles especially when Molly wasn't sure just how she would take it. Molly wasn't sure what Charles had told his mother about why they weren't together anymore but Pam seems to be handling it quite well considering and Molly was grateful for that.

-.-

Molly moves up the stairs, she was the last one up and she rubbed at the back of her neck as she carried her bag up to the room that she would be staying in for the night. She had just reached the door to her room when she heard the bathroom door opened and Charles came out with a towel around his hips and honestly it was the most hottest look she had seen.

She cleared her throat and looked away to the door that she would be going through.

Charles looked up when he heard the clearing of the throat and saw Molly standing at the door "Oh, I thought you might've already come up" he admitted and then felt the tension in his shoulders once more.

"And I thought that you might've already gone to bed" she said keeping her back to him as she tried to get the image of him walking around in that towel out of her head.

"I am an adult, Molly, we don't tend to go to bed too early" he said in a joke and he watched as her shoulders tensed too and god he wished that they would break out of this damn tension, that they would just sit down and talk all of this out one way or another and get everything out in the air, to get everything straight between the two of them.

Molly can't help the slight smile that pulls at her lips when he jokes with her, the same Charles that she knew when they were together. "I heard that your mum is throwing her usual Christmas Eve party so that should be fun for you and for Sam"

"Molly... turn around and look at me" he said softly.

Molly knew that she was acting like an idiot and she sighed before she slowly turned and looked at him, her eyes staying on his face even though they really wanted to wander over that chest of his.

"Will you be staying for the party too?" Charles watches her and he even lets his eyes wander over her face a little, she still looked like his beautiful Molly.

"I don't know, probably not, I have stuff that I have to do"

A smile pulled at his lips slightly "In Bath?" he teased softly before watching her.

"Well no but..." she then tried to think of something but honestly couldn't come up with the perfect excuse and it seemed like he knew that because he was actually smirking at her. "Oh, stop fucking smirking _Charles_ "

"Whatever you say Dawesy..." he smirked once more and turned on the spot before he moved in the direction of his own room and shut the door but not before looking back at Molly, that smirk still pulling at his lips.

Molly scoffed and then shook her head "God, what have you got yourself in for, Molly?" she said and gave a quick glance in the direction of his room once more before she opened the door to her own room and disappeared behind it then shut it behind her.

Christmas Eve was going to be very interesting indeed.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a knock at the door and she got up to answer it and she opened it to find that Charles was on the other side of the door. "It's late" she muttered softly to him and she let her eyes move over his chest and found that he was actually dressed this time which was definitely a disappointing sight if she's being honest.

"And yet you're still up aren't you, Molly?" he said with a soft smile and then looked down at the ground.

There was a silence between the two and neither of them could take it because the next thing she knew Molly was pulling him in by the shirt and then his lips were against hers and was walking her back in the room, his foot shutting the door behind him.

There was a big height difference between the two of them so he reached down and put his hands around her legs before he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist, holding on to him as her lips moved with his.

Charles leaned her against the wall and then took his time kissing her mostly because of the fact that it had been so long since they had kissed like this - hell since they have kissed period. He moved his lips from hers and then started to kiss along her neck and he still couldn't get enough of his wife.

Molly chewed on her lip and then closed her eyes as he kissed her neck and god she really shouldn't be doing this but it felt so good, his lips were still soft and he definitely was still that amazing kisser she remembered. She gripped his shoulder a little tighter as he moved his lips back to hers and then he started walking towards the bed with her in his arms.

She then managed to move her hands down to the buttons on his shirt and started to open them up.

Slowly.

One by one.

He got to the bed and they both fell down on it and Molly laughed softly as he grinned down at her before his lips were back against hers, her fingers were at the bottom of his neck playing with his hair. Molly liked touching him with his soft skin and she remembered thinking how she had got so lucky. How this man who was so much more high above her in command could look at someone like her but here they were now.

Charles kissed her neck once more but Molly heard a weird noise and she wasn't sure where it was coming from "Do you hear that?" she asked

"What?" he voices was muffled against her neck.

Molly heard it again it was like a buzzing noise "That!" she said and then pushed him away and he looked down at her and he sighed and then said "Dawes it's your bloody phone"

Molly then woke up and she looked over at her mobile to see that it was actually going off. Then it stopped and she rolled over on to her back and she looked up at the ceiling as she remembered the whole of the dream. She put her hands to her face and then said behind them "Oh god, no"

It seemed as if her body was more than happy to let Charles continue but her mind was in horror at the fact that she had almost had a sex dream of the guy that she really needed to stop thinking about but she guessed that staying a couple of doors down from him was going to be a little bit harder than it already was.

Molly moved her hands from her face and pulled the duvet up over it instead and wanted to stay here out of shame for the rest of the time she would be stuck in this house.

-.-

Molly made it downstairs and it was a bit of a nightmare because there was people moving in and out of the kitchen and Sam was sitting on the bottom step as if waiting for her to come down. He had his elbows on his knees and his hands and he heavy sighed and she couldn't help but smile softly as she sat down on the step next to him.

"Been kicked out of the kitchen huh?" she asked.

"The kitchen and the front room, oh, and the dining room," he sighs again and then looks up at Molly "Grandma is going overboard this year on the party but that might be down to the fact that it's snowed and she wants to get as many people in as she can"

Molly then had an idea that would keep Sam out of the way for a little bit and would get her away from Charles too. "Do you have a hat, gloves and scarf set here?"

"Upstairs in my room, why?" Sam perked up a little bit because of the fact that it seemed as if Molly was going to be taking him outside for a little bit and that sounded so much more better than sitting here watching people dressed like penguins move back and forth through the house.

"Well go and get them, we're going outside to build that snowman you wanted to build" she smiled and watched as Sam jumped up quickly and then ran up the stairs. Molly moved from her own spot and down the stairs because sadly _she_ didn't have a hat, scarf or gloves but she did have a big coat so she would be fine for a little while.

Molly grabbed her coat and put it on before she moved in the direction of the kitchen and heard people talking and she honestly wondered how Pam was going to put up with all of this but if she wanted the party then she guessed it was the only way to get the food done and everything ready for the party.

She grabbed herself a quick drink and then waited for Sam outside and it looked so perfect out in the back garden that she could push some of the anger she had for the snow away and enjoy the moment with Sam.

Molly had her hands wrapped around the cup to keep her warm and then looked over to see Sam walking out the back door and then handing over a pair of gloves and a hat. "I wasn't sure if you had any so I found a spare hat and gloves set that grandma keeps; so you can use them"

Molly remembered why she loved this sweet boy because he always made sure that if someone needed something then he would get it for them and it made her heart soar with pride and a wish moved across her mind that she hoped to have a child like him someday. She put her cup in the kitchen and shut the door back up. "Let's get that snowman built shall we?"

"Definitely" grinned Sam.

They got the snow and slowly started to build the snowman and Molly had the best time, she did wonder if her own siblings would be building their own snowmen or would Dave be sat in front of the TV like he usually was with a beer in his hand?

After they put a hat on it, a hat that Sam said came from his grandfather's collection and a scarf that he found in this cupboard under the stairs but Molly guessed that was probably Charles' fathers too, they stood back and admired their handy work. It was getting a lot more colder and both Sam's and Molly's cheeks were pink from the cold but she wouldn't have missed this for the world.

"Do you think Dad will like it?" Sam asked.

"I think he's going to love it" Molly spoke honestly and looked down at the small boy and was about to say something else but then was hit with some snow and she raised an eyebrow before looking over at the culprit and standing there grinning was Charles himself.

Molly pretended to look annoyed and she then turned properly so that she was looking at Charles better "So childish" she said and then shook her head before she bent down and grabbed some snow and rounded it into a ball then stood up and saw that Charles had moved and she looked for him before she threw the snowball at him and it just about missed him.

"Bad aim there, Dawesy" he smiled at her before he got himself so more snow and this time it hit Sam who laughed and started to throw snowballs at both Molly and his dad this time.

"Oi!" Molly exclaimed when the snowball from Sam hit her but she laughed because she could never actually be mad at Sam.

The three of them didn't see Pam looking out the window with a satisfied look on her face, there was still time for them to reunite and she was going to make sure that they had the best Christmas ever and make them realise that they did still care about each other. She dropped the curtain back in to place and went back to planning that party.

Molly was happy to see Charles like this because it meant that he was a completely different person than the person he had been when they split. She was glad that he was getting that help that he needed.

She stopped and looked at him having fun with Sam and it warmed her heart so much because of the fact that she knew how hard he had tried not to let Sam see what he was going through but seeing them both now was one of the best scenes she had ever watched.

Molly so desperately wanted to be back as a family unit.

Charles stood up and looked over at Molly who looked like she was deep in thought and then he felt something land on his nose and he looked up to see that it had started to snow once more. How was he going to make her listen to what he wanted to say to her? Charles couldn't exactly lock her in a room with him and make her listen but he had to figure out a way to tell her everything.

Molly had to listen.

Charles looked down at Sam and smiled at his cold cheeks "Maybe it's time we go in and get warm and maybe ready for that party tonight"

"Do we have too?" Sam pouted up at his father.

"Yes we do or Grandma will be pulling us in by herself"

Molly couldn't help but laugh at that and she caught Charles' eye when he looked over at her and she smiled softly at him and nodded. "It is Christmas Eve and you do have to make sure you put those mince pies out for the big man" she moved from her spot, her feet sinking into the snow and god she wished she had worn better shoes because her feet were freezing!

"And I need that shower to warm up" Molly smiled and then looked over to see that Sam had relented leaving the snow and had started following after her.

 _Tonight_ , thought Charles, _tonight I will make her listen some how._

He walked in to the house after the other two.


	6. Chapter 6

Molly looked down from the second floor and tried to see if there was anyone that she knew and it didn't look like there was going to be. It really did look like the neighbours had only turned up but that was probably because of the snow but when did that sometimes put people off?

She hadn't been expecting a party so she hadn't really packed anything nice so right now she was wearing jeans and a jumper. She looked down at the people once more and bit on her lip Molly was just going to have to take a chance and hope that there were people she would know in the end.

Making her way down her mobile vibrated in her back pocket and Molly got her phone out and saw that the message was from Sarah and a smile pulled at her lips because of the fact that the text said that Sarah was just about ready to kill her mother in law. Molly shook her head and quickly text back before putting her mobile in her back pocket and came to the bottom of the stairs. She guessed it wasn't every day that a separated husband and wife were stuck in the same house by the weather but so far it hadn't been _that_ bad even though Charles was eager to talk to her about Georgie.

She was hoping to put that off til they were actually not in the same house.

Sam came running over to her and said "Be careful, Grandma is on the war path" he said and then moved away and towards the front room where the Christmas tree was. Molly wasn't sure if it was because of Sam that Pam was annoyed but either way she was going to be giving her a wide berth for a moment.

Molly moved in the direction where she knew the bar usually was and got herself a drink and was about to take a sip of it when Charles came over to her side "I heard that your mother is angry"

"One of the waiting staff smashed one of her good plates and I've never seen my mother wanting to hit anyone until now so it's probably best if no one goes up against her right now"

"Eesh" Molly muttered before taking that drink. The last thing she wanted was to piss off his mother especially when she had been kind enough to let Molly stay here in the house, most people would probably side with their sons and would want Molly out of the house before she could do any damage.

"You look great by the way" Charles looked at her and smiled. Molly looked good in anything she wore anyway.

Molly looked up at Charles and a smile pulled at her own lips before she looked down at her outfit, it wasn't anything special but if he thought it looked great then who was she to argue. Then a thought hit her and she knew that they shouldn't be doing this, if he's with Lane then he shouldn't be saying these things to her. They had to stop all of this. Molly would be going to London when this snow melted and then she would be heading back to Warminster. She opened her mouth to speak but then a voice came from behind the both of them.

"Bossman!"

Molly raised an eyebrow and turned to see that 2 Section was there and she wondered how the hell they had even got to Bath let alone found the house. "Who let you bleedin' lot come here?" they walked over to where Molly and Charles was standing at the pop up bar.

"Mrs James rang us, she's sneaky that lady, I think she got the number from your phone Bossman" Fingers spoke and then his eyes lit up at the bar.

"How did you even get here?" Charles moved out of the way so that the guys could actually get themselves a drink.

"We've actually been here since yesterday" Brains spoke and then smiled at Molly. "Nice to see you Dawesy"

"The whole of 2 Section is here?" Molly asked and looked between the two that were now at the bar. "Bleedin' hell, I'm not sure this party knows what has hit them so please don't get too pissed as there isn't any taxi to take you home.. and your families don't mind that you're not at home?"

"Well Fingers still lives with his Nan so I doubt he will be getting his egg and soldiers in the morning, eh Fingers?"

Molly laughed and then she realised that if the _whole_ of 2 Section was there then that meant that _she_ would be there and sure enough as she turned away from the bar Molly came face to face with Georgie and she felt like her whole world had just turned upside down just by her being here.

She felt like everything was just so messed up, Molly looked over at Charles and then shook her head before she looked back at Georgie. "They really did let _anyone_ in" she muttered and then walked away, not seeing that the guys were looking at each other, from the bar leaving them alone. Molly found that she now really wanted to get the hell out of here. She put her drink down on a side cupboard and grabbed her coat down from the hanger before she walked out the front door.

Molly pulled her hood up and decided to go for a walk just to clear her thoughts but she wasn't sure just how easy that was going to be. She had just started to walk away from the door when it opened up once more. "Molly..." the voice said and she stopped and stole a glance in the direction of the woman that had just said her name. Molly turned on the spot and looked back at Georgie.

"What?" she asked and kept her hands in the pockets of her coat to keep them warm but she guessed it was down to the fact that if she took them out then one of them would find their way on to Georgie's cheek.

"I was hoping that we could talk, maybe even get back-" Georgie was stopped by Molly laughing.

"You honestly think we can get back to being friends? You and me? You must be crazy" Molly laughed once more. "I know that being under all of that make up can make your brain a little slow to take everything in so I will say it slowly so that you can understand, you and me will never be friends again"

"Molly... please let me explain"

"What part of no don't you understand? You slept with my husband, my husband who by the way was _your_ fiance's best friend and you stand there and instantly think that if you explain then suddenly everything will be fine?"

Georgie wasn't sure what she should say to that but Molly didn't wait for her to say anything else because she started speaking again. "I would never, _never,_ have done that to you no matter what I was going through"

Molly didn't want to look at her face again "So go back in, have fun, have the most perfect life with Charles but you and I are done" she turned away and walked away from the house needing to get some air. Molly wasn't giving her a chance to talk anymore, they had spoken enough and it had left her again wishing that she could go home. Today in the snow had felt perfect and now Georgie walked back in and ruined everything.

She shivered as she cuddled more in to the coat that she was wearing and she looked up, the snow was still coming down. Molly had to admit that when the UK done something they done it full and compete, there was no half measures and now she was starting to cursing this damn snow. She wanted to get out of here.

"Molly!" Charles called after her and actually walked up the road to where she was walking. "So that's it? You're just going to walk all the way to London? In the snow?"

"I hadn't thought of that but it seems better than staying here with Lane" she kept walking.

"Why won't you listen to what I got to say?" he stopped her and looked down at his wife.

"It feels like Afghan all over again" Molly admitted and scoffed. "It feels like the day I found out that you were married to Rebecca and now here we are in a somewhat similiar situation only this time it's with another bloody medic, who by the way was my friend and you expect me to listen so that you can tell me it's her you want to be with?"

"And that is why you have to talk to me"

"When I wanted to talk you didn't want too, you went back on tour when I said it was best that you didn't because you don't listen and now you expect us to talk? To what sit in the snow and speak about all the good times?"

"If we have to then yes because one way or another I will make you listen to me, I will get you to talk to me and if I have to walk with you through the bloody snow all night then I will"

"What for though?" she finally asked the question that had been hanging in the air, why did he want to talk so badly? What was he going to say?

"Because I made a mistake, because of the fact that I love you and because you are my wife and if I have to fight for you every step of the damn way then I will just as long as you come home to me"

"But Georgie..."

"I'm not with Georgie, I don't even know why she's here other than the fact that she came with the rest of the guys but it's _you_ that I want to be with, it's _you_ that I want to stay married too"

Molly wasn't sure what she was meant to do with that bit of information but one thing was for sure that they were going to have to sit down properly and talk. "When everyone is gone and Sam is in bed then we can talk but for now... I just need to be on my own for a little bit, parties overwhelm me and all that"

Charles knew she was still lying but he relunctantly nodded, if Molly didn't want to do anything then there was no point in actually trying to force her but thankfully she would listen to him. Thankfully they could sit down and finally go through everything and maybe then they could start getting things back to normal.

Or at least maybe they could slowly start getting things back to normal. Whatever Molly wanted to do he would accept it.

Molly turned away from him and started walking for a little bit more, needing to put some space between her and the house because of the fact that Georgie Lane was in there and she still felt like she wanted to hit her with something.


	7. Chapter 7

It was cold and Molly wasn't sure just how long she had been out of the house but she guessed it was a while. A while left alone with her thoughts, and trying to work out how everything had happened over the last couple of days. She hadn't expected to get stuck in Bath but it might turn out to be a good thing, _might_ being the word.

She decided that it was probably best if she headed back to the party and actually prayed that Lane wouldn't be there, Molly couldn't take much more of that woman and would rather prefer if she wasn't there at all. Snow was pretty and it was better looking than watching it rain every Christmas but it was definitely cold and her feet were getting soaked so maybe walking out the house hadn't been the best idea but she just needed to get away.

Molly finally ended up back at the house, actually thankful that she had been able to get back in. She hung up her coat and made her way back to where everyone seemed to be and as she was making her way back towards the bar she saw the two of them together and she felt her heart sink once more. Charles might not always understand what she's talking about, even now after all the years of marriage, but she would've thought that he might've got rid of Lane. Told her to go and not to darken the doorstep again but they were talking.

She scoffed under her breath and shook her head and knew that she shouldn't have believed what they had said. Should've just not come here at all and maybe she still could make her way to London through the snow or even back to her own place because it would be better than standing here watching them. Then an idea came to her head as her eyes settled on something; it was mistletoe.

Molly grabbed the mistletoe and headed in their direction, she chucked it at Lane. "Here you two go, why don't you kiss under that" there seemed to be silence in the room and everyone watched the three of them. "Oh, but I forgot there wasn't any mistletoe in Bangladesh when you kissed the first time around, right?" she said looking between the two of them once more.

The guys of 2 section all looked at one another because of the fact that they hadn't known it had even happened, even after all of Fingers' joking James still had gone after the new medic.

Brains went to step forward but Molly grabbed hold of him to stop him because the last thing she wanted was for him to get in to trouble. "No.." she said softly to him. Even Molly was that angry at her own husband but in the end she wanted to save Brains' career.

"Molly..." Charles tried but his eyes then moved passed his wife to where his son and mother were standing and Pam looked so disappointed at him and it wasn't something he had ever seen before and it wasn't a look that he liked in the first place so he moved his eyes away back to Molly.

"Bangladesh?" Fingers finally said and looked over at Captain James "that meant it was after Bones died and you came back and the first thing you did was get in the medic's knickers?" he said and looked so angry. No wonder he was out of his game, if he was thinking about bedding Lane. "Stayed focused, stay alert, stay alive huh boss?"

"That's enough Fingers" Charles kept his eyes on Molly.

"Sam," Pam spoke "why don't you go up to bed"

"But..." he said and looked up at her, Grandma wasn't taking no for an answer and he nodded. "Okay" then looked over at Molly. "Goodnight Molly"

"Goodnight mate" she turned and looked at him with a soft smile.

"I'll be up in a min-" Charles started to speak but Sam cut him off with a shake of his head and said...

"No, don't bother" Sam walked out the room and up the stairs. He might still be young but he knew that what his father had done was wrong, he knew that why Molly hadn't been around was because of the fact that his father had hurt her. He shut his bedroom door so that he didn't have to hear any thing else come from downstairs.

"I told you outside that there wasn't anything going on with me and Charlie" Lane spoke up and Molly moved her eyes over to look at her. "I love Elvis"

Molly laughed because this was just getting too much "Firstly his name is Charles, second like you _loved_ Jamie or like you _liked_ Milan, all of this is just conquests for you and you're not happy until you've got a man between your thighs and I thought I was bad enough but I haven't jumped from one relationship to another"

"You tried to get him to leave the army"

"No, I tried to save him but how could I when he didn't even want to admit anything was wrong" Molly wasn't sure why she was even telling Lane this but maybe she finally needed to tell someone something. "After he got hurt in the jungle I tried to get him to stay home but he was more concerned about going on tour again and yes maybe I should've spoken up or told someone but I didn't and that's on me but I am not taking the blame for him sleeping with another medic because that was on you two"

Pam looked at all three of them and then finally said "Party is over!" it had been one of those days and now more than any other time she wanted to just get this party over and get everyone out and after hearing everything from Molly, Charles and Georgie.. the party was definitely over.

"OUT!" she said loudly "Now!" Pam really wanted her neighbours out so that she could get to the bottom of this matter once and for all. She moved over to where her son and his wife was standing before she set her eyes on Georgie "I think it's best if you actually go and not come back here"

Georgie swallowed hard and gave a nod and looked over at the rest of the section and she watched as Fingers and Brains looked away from her. She felt tears bubbling up in her eyes and she wanted to explain everything but it seemed as if that was the last thing anyone wanted to hear from her right now. More than that she could see everyone hating her from now on but she relunctantly left with some members of the team.

"You going to be alright, Dawesy?" Brains asked and looked over at Molly, who nodded at him, so he patted Fingers' shoulder to get him to move "Let's go before I decide to do something that will end my army career"

Fingers actually wanted to hit the boss himself but at the same time he didn't want to be up in front of the higher uppers so he slowly moved his eyes away from Captain James down to Molly, he put his hand against her arm and said "Call me later, yeah?" he smiled at her and she smiled back before he relunctantly moved away from where they were standing and left the two of them alone, well apart from Mrs James of course.

Molly watched her friends leave and she felt bad because of the fact that she didn't want Christmas Eve to end up like this. She didn't want to remember this night ending like this for Sam. She felt bad for Pam too because this was one night of the year that she liked to let her hair down and just enjoy the Christmas season and this year she couldn't even do that.

"Mum.." Charles spoke and looked at his mother but she was so angry with him that she couldn't even look at him. "I didn't want you to find out like this"

"It sounded like you didn't want me to find out at all" with that Pam walked off and left the two of them alone.

Molly watched Pam and she shook her head, all because of Georgie Lane but at the same time she wanted to take some blame of this, she never wanted to deal that in front of everyone but she was so angry that Lane was still here that she didn't even think and now the night was ruined and maybe Christmas too. It was beginning to feel like an EastEnders Christmas.

Charles went to go after his mother but Molly went instead "Maybe I should..." but she didn't let him talk her out of it because she had walked away anyway.

Molly found Pam in the dining room sat in one of the chairs and she came to sit down with her. "I'm sorry for that back there Mrs J" she said and looked over at the older woman who looked as if she was more than happy to drink from the Sherry bottle.

"Molly, you don't have to apologise," she reached out and took Molly's hands in hers. "there is one thing that you could do for me though, tell me what really happened?"

Molly squeezed her mother-in-laws hands and then chewed on her lip for a moment before she answered "Charles trusted a Captain from the ANA, someone that we both knew from when we were stationed in Afghan before" she hadn't told anyone this and it felt nice to finally speak about it. Clearly Charles had just told his mother that Elvis died and that was the end of it.

"He betrayed the team that had been sent in, apparently someone in the section had voiced their opinion on Azizi and Charles didn't listen but he kicks himself for not listening" she swallowed hard and then carried on "Elvis was doing his job and honestly it could've been anyone that came across the bomb but it was him" Molly liked Elvis; she definitely had a laugh with him when they were around. So when she found out that he had died it had upset her but she knew it was nothing compared to what Charles was going through.

"I didn't want him to go on those tours after but there was no way I could stop him" Molly admitted and sighed. "He was suffering from PTSD and he didn't want my help, he didn't want help from anyone and when he came back injured from the jungle he was more determined than ever to get to Bangladesh and now we know why"

"Molly, I am sorry" Pam said sadly and watched her.

"Don't you apologise because you haven't done nothing wrong" Molly squeezed her hands once more and smiled. "But you might want to save the rest of your plates from the waiting staff though"

"Ah, yes," Pam smiled "a little bit of advice from me to you and I know that he's made me very angry but will you sit and talk to him? Even if it's just to let him explain or if you tell him to listen to you, sit down together"

"I will, I promise" Molly agreed and then gave Pam's hands another squeeze before the older woman got up from the table and left Molly alone with her own thoughts, if she's honest she wasn't sure what she would actually say to Charles but she would definitely sit and talk with him because in the end they _did_ need to get talking about what they were going to do.


	8. Chapter 8

Molly watched the lights on the tree and was thankful for the peace and quiet, if she's honest tonight had been a bit of a nightmare and she hadn't expected the whole room to hear what had happened between Georgie and Charles but when she saw her here then she had sort of reverted back to her old self for a moment there. It reminded her of that moment with Artan... something else she didn't want to think about.

It was Christmas Eve and no doubt her brothers and sisters were asleep in London and dreaming about what they would be getting tomorrow and she wasn't there. Molly would have to Skype them so she could watch as they opened their presents. Sam was in bed himself and Charles' parents hadn't long gone up so that meant that with everyone gone to bed Molly and Charles were literally the only two left up.

It was time for them to have their talk.

As if he could hear her thoughts Charles came in to the front room and shut the door behind him just in case they start yelling and don't want to wake anyone up, it did take him a while for Sam to actually speak to him. The last thing he wanted was to hurt the boy again but at the same time he didn't know what direction this talk was going to go. In fact there was a big part of him that was dreading have it but they needed to get everything out in the open and then move on from there...

If they can.

Molly looked back towards the tree and chewed on her lip for a moment because she wasn't sure what she should really say or whether she should go first but there was silence and right now she just wanted to break it. "I think I will be happy to see the back of 2018"

Charles sat down on the sofa that was a little bit away from her as he wanted to give Molly some space. "It's been difficult I will admit that" he had struggled big time but he was hoping that with getting some help it might make things a little bit easier. He rubbed his hands together for a moment and then looked back over at Molly. "I'm sorry that I didn't get rid of Georgie when she first turned up"

Molly was silent for a moment and watched the lights on the tree before she finally spoke "It would be easier just to blame the both of you for all of this" she admitted and looked over at him "but I can't because it's not always that simple" she really wished that it was but she really needed to let him talk too but right now she just wanted to tell him everything.

"But I do have a confession" maybe they needed to get everything out in the open and if they were talking now then it's probably best to talk about everything. "I didn't ring you up to get those chest of drawers, I rang you up just to hear your voice, in fact I actually don't even like those drawers"

"Why did I even get them then?" he said in a soft tease before looking down. "I was actually hoping that maybe you would've reconsidered leaving" he admits and looks up at her.

Molly often plays that phone call over in her head and she can still hear herself saying that she thinks it best if they ended it. For a long time after that she hated herself so when she called him to hear his voice a lot of nonesense came out of her mouth about those chest of drawers. "Everytime I walk passed them I swear they glare at me"

Charles can't help but laugh at that and then clears his throat when he catches Molly watching him "Sorry I just..." he tried to keep a straight face because of the fact that this is a very serious conversation and then Molly drops that in to the mix. Maybe they needed it because he sees her trying her hardest not to smile too.

"Why didn't you ask me to stay if you wanted me to reconsider leaving?"

"Because I knew that you wanted to go or at least that's what I thought at the time and I didn't want to put you through what I already was by making you stay"

Molly nodded once and was silent because even she didn't know what to say to that but at the same time he wasn't wrong. When she got an idea into her head she couldn't shake it and she would be determined to see it all through.

"What is going to happen with us Molly?" Charles finally asks her, he might as well just get straight to the point and ask the question.

"I don't know" she admits and shakes her head. "A lot has happened and we both have so much to talk about and maybe we can work it out and maybe we can't, I'm not really sure how any of this is going to go"

Charles knew he had to tell her _everything_. "After Elvis died I tried to push everything away but I ended up getting angry at myself because I should've listened to Richards and I should've seen that something was off when it came to the building but my mind was on the fact that Azizi had betrayed us that I wasn't thinking clearly" he needed to have put that to one side for a mission and he didn't. "Our marriage suffered because I hated myself and I know that you wanted me to leave the army but I felt like I had to stay, like it was the only thing I could keep hold of and maybe I could right my mistake"

Molly so desperately had wanted him to leave because of what he was going through and it might sound horrible but if she had told someone about his PTSD, he might've hated her for it but at least then someone else would've known. At least then Molly wouldn't have been the only one who had known about his secret. She decided it was probably best to let him finish talking before she said anything; after all Molly did need to listen.

"And then when I got hurt in Belize I was so frustrated because I kept thinking that if I couldn't get back to the section then I wouldn't be able to make anything right" he wasn't sure how any of this was going down, Charles couldn't read Molly's face. She had gotten good at hiding what she was thinking. "And then..." he didn't want to say it but if they were sharing everything then he might as well tell her. "I started to get obsessed with Georgie, I felt like I had to protect her because of the fact that Elvis wasn't around anymore then that obsession to protect her turned into the obsession of wanting her"

"We had this connection with Elvis and we were two people who grieved so much for him that it sort of messed our brains up a little bit and I thought that if I was losing you then I could turn to her and I did..."

Hearing all of this for the first time was actually heartbreaking for Molly but this was the first time he had been honest about all of this so she was willing to listen because there was only so many times she could walk away from this conversation before it actually caught up with her.

There was silence in the room for a moment and you could hear a pin dropping because it was that quiet. "And now?" she asked "Do you still want Georgie?"

"No" he admits "And I think that's down to the fact that i've been getting help, it's made everything a little bit more clearer"

Molly released a breath that she didn't even know she was holding in before she looked down at her fingers for a moment. "When Smurf died I.." she knew it was a while ago now since he had died, so she tried again and this time she looked back up at Charles "When Smurf died I second guessed myself because there was always this 'what if I had got them to check for the bleed' or 'Maybe I should've seen something was wrong when he complained about the headaches' and I was devastated because trust the Welsh idiot to die when he was with me" she shook her head and looked down once more "In the end I learned to trust my skills and that's why I wanted to get back out to Afghan so that I could help others with their skills"

"Molly you are a damn good soldier and an excellent medic, the amount of people that you saved, you don't ever want to second guess yourself because you know what you are and so do I and that's one of the reasons why I told you to go in the end"

"The thing is with Elvis is that you couldn't have saved him in the end" Molly knew he probably didn't want to talk about that but it's better to get it all out in the open. "He took so many crazy risks and that's what Special Forces do, it's why they are the best of the best because they don't take any shit and in the end he was doing his job and yes it cost him his life but if it hadn't been that bomb it could've been something else or somewhere else it's just the fact that it happened while 2 Section was with him"

"I still miss him, I even expect him to ring up for some silly reason and ask for something"

"It's going to feel like that for a while and it does get a little bit easier, not much, but it does"

"Have I completely fucked this up, Molly?" Charles looked over at her, watching as she played with the cushion that was next to her, keeping her eyes low.

"I don't know" Molly finally looks over at him, her fingers stopping from playing with the cushion. "I don't even know what next year is going to bring but I think that you need to concentrate on yourself before anything else because I didn't like seeing you like that Charles, I hated knowing that I couldn't help you"

Charles knew it wasn't what he wanted but he would put in the effort to get his wife back, to get her to look at him with love again and not anger or wanting to run away. "Do you want to get a divorce?" Even though he wanted her back it didn't mean that she wanted him so it was a question that maybe they needed to get out the way before they could continue on with whatever direction their relationship would take.

If Molly was honest she hadn't even thought about getting a divorce, not even when she had seen him with Georgie earlier. Who know maybe down the line it could happen but right now she didn't want to go through a divorce. "No" she shook her head. "It's not going to be easy any of this, even you getting help but no I don't want to get that divorce"

"Plus I think that Sam will hate me forever if we do" he smiled slightly and knew that he would have to talk to Sam at some point but if they could get through tomorrow, if they can get through Christmas Day then they can talk.

"Well yeah there is that" Molly agreed. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier but I don't think I can be friends with Georgie again because there will always be that nagging feeling in the back of my mind with her and I can honestly do without having that insecurity all the time"

Charles understood that and if it was the other way around then he would feel the same but he doesn't blame her one single bit. "So, what about you? You going on anymore tours?"

"I was thinking about maybe asking to be stationed in the UK for a little bit and as much as I do love the travelling and the different places, I miss home too" Molly looked over at the clock on the mantlepiece when it struck midnight. "Well it's Christmas Day, Merry Christmas"

"Merry Christmas Molly" Charles actually hoped that now they have had a talk that maybe things might be a bit easier tomorrow. "Do you think it'll stop snowing?"

"Well I would like to get to London at some point this year but who knows because this is Britain after all, we really know how to overdo it on the snow when it does finally fall" Molly had fun in the snow with Sam. Making a snowman is something she hasn't done in a very long time especially when she would build one outside the front room window and she would make sure that it would stare in at Dave. Just to judge his lifestyle, sadly she would often wake up and find that it had been knocked down.

Like Molly had said she didn't know what 2019 was going to bring for the two of them but Charles needed to concentrate on getting himself on the path to recovery, it wasn't going to be easy in fact it was going to be difficult but who really knows where they will be at Christmas next year but one thing was for sure... They were going to be spending this Christmas in Bath... Together.

And maybe over time they can heal each others hearts.


	9. Chapter 9

Molly rolled over on to her side and looked out towards the window and honestly can't believe that today was Christmas Day and she wasn't with her family. While she was with Sam and Charles she still wanted to get back to London.

With that thought in her head she reached over and grabbed her phone and rang her mum up because she knew that at least she would be awake. After about four rings Belinda picked up and she sounded a little bit tired but she guessed that was because of all the kids that were in the house.

"Merry Christmas, mum" she spoke in to the phone and really wished she could get back to London even though she hadn't long seen Belinda when she came to Warminster but still she wished that she could spend the Christmas period with those in London.

"Merry Christmas, Molls, how's it going there?" Belinda was in the middle of making herself a cup of tea or she was more in the need of some coffee to keep herself awake after a bit of a bad night.

Molly looked over at the closed door and sighed before she looked back towards the window "We talked last night but at the moment i'm not sure what to even do and you will never guess who turned up last night at the party"

"You're joking, she turned up? Did you knock her teeth down her throat?" Belinda took a drink of her tea and moved out the kitchen and in to the living room/dining room area and figured she would have enough time to at least talk to her oldest before all the rest came down.

"I wanted to believe me but I didn't, I probably would've before but knowing my luck she would call the police and with there have being a lot of witnesses I don't think I could really risk it as i've got a lot more to lose this time around mum" Molly figured that at least a few of those in 2 Section would've stuck up for her and that reminded her she had to give Fingers a call to tell him that she survived the night without actually trying to strangle Charles.

If Molly was honest there was still a part of her not sure what she should do with the information that she had gotten the night before and while she had made no promises to commit to anything she still felt there was a very long way to go and both her and Charles could even get back to normal even after his therapy.

"How is everything there?" Molly asked

"Quiet at the moment I think you might have to ring back later to actually speak to anyone and plus Nan is coming over, she said that she's not going to let any snow stop her coming for Christmas day lunch"

Molly had to smile because that was so her Nan, she would make sure that she would be there even when the odds were stacked against her and Belinda did need her cooking because the last thing anyone wants to do is eat anything that Dave makes. "Well I think I will video back later so that I see watch them open presents or at least for them to show me what they got"

"You going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll be fine in the end because I have to be, right?"

"No Molly, you don't have to be anything, if you don't feel it then what is the point in pretending?"

Molly knew that her mother was telling the truth, she knew that what she was saying was complete sense but right now she couldn't afford to fall apart too. Her marriage had already done this and the last thing she wanted to do was fall apart with it.

"Well I'll leave you to have your tea in peace before the little bleeders come down, make sure that you get them to video me later! Because I want to see their faces and I want to hear what they got for Christmas"

"I will and you take care, okay? Make sure that you don't take any crap from that husband of yours and if _she_ turns up then make sure her teeth is coming out of her ass"

Molly had to smile at that because of the fact it would be something that her mother would say to her. "I promise to do it and I'll take care and I'll speak to you later, bye mum"

"Bye Molls"

Molly put the phone back on the bedside cupboard and chewed on her lip and honestly wondered how the hell she was going to get through today, they might've spoken last night but at the same time she was still not sure what they were even going to do about what he had said and Charles hadn't actually said that he would be staying away from Lane and that made her feel a little bit unsure whether or not he had been truthful last night but right now wasn't the right time to be thinking about it.

She pulled the duvet over her head once more and just hid away from the rest of the world before she even went downstairs.

-.-

Molly finally got out the bed and she saw that it was snowing again and honestly she was starting to get a little bit fed up of this damn white stuff now because of the fact that she was stuck here in Bath. At that thought she grabbed her phone off the cupboard and quickly text Fingers to tell him that she was alright and that she would speak to him after Christmas, she hoped that he had a good one. Even if it sounded like the whole of 2 Section would be spending it in Bath.

She moved out of the bedroom and the smell from the kitchen was wafting up the stairs and she remembered just how hungry she was and actually wished that she could just go straight to Christmas dinner.

The sound of Christmas music was coming from one of the rooms and it sounded so perfect that for a moment she could easily forget that she would be walking in to a room with her husband and his family.

Plus they could say that they had a White Christmas especially with it snowing again.

She heard a sound coming from the kitchen and walked in there to see that Charles and his mother was in there and a smile pulled at her lips "You're not letting him in the kitchen are you Mrs J?" Molly teased at the both of them.

"Hey, I can hold my own" he pointed a whisk towards Molly and laughed softly.

"Sure you can" Molly nodded once but there was the slight smirk pulling at her lips before she grabbed herself a cup of tea and sat down at the table they had in the kitchen.

There were times he did burn dinner so was it actually a sensible idea to have him anywhere near the food right now.

"Merry Christmas, Molly" Pam called over at her and she looked somewhat a little _too_ cheerful.

Molly had been in the middle of having a drink when Pam spoke to her so she tried not to choke on her tea as she put the cup back down and swallowed her drink before speaking "And to you"

"I'm going to go and make sure that the table is set up for lunch and please don't burn that stuff" Pam pointed at Charles before she walked out the kitchen with her Christmas apron on and Molly actually liked it because it was so Christmasy even with everything that had gone on in the last twenty four hours Pam was still determined to have a good Christmas day and she didn't blame her because if Molly was her then she would do everything she could to make the day normal too.

Especially for Sam.

With Pam out of the kitchen it meant that Molly was alone with Charles and there was something she had to say, she had to say it now because of the fact that she wanted to then move on for the rest of the day, to actually enjoy Christmas. "I want you to stay away from Georgie" Molly looked over at Charles who was looking between her and the food.

"I will" he said with a promise. If Charles was being honest then he had been thinking about in while in bed, he wanted to prove to Molly that he was serious about getting her back and staying away from Georgie was a step in the direction of getting her back.

Molly watched him and nodded once before she then said "Don't burn that veg or your mother will hit you with that whisk"

"She almost dropped the pan when I said that I wanted to help out, I don't think she likes my cooking..."

Molly didn't say anything instead she just looked away and tried not to smile. She did have to admit that he wasn't exactly that good at cooking and if they wanted to get through Christmas Day without an incident then having Charles do _any_ cooking was better to be avoided. "Where's Sam?"

"Front room, he's watching a bit of TV just to make sure that he doesn't get in mum's way, you know what she's like when people get under her feet"

"She hits them with the whisk" Molly stood up and then walked out the kitchen and towards the front room, she looked around the door and smiled "Merry Christmas, Champ" she moved in to the room and sat down on the sofa with him.

"Merry Christmas Molly, you want to sit and watch with me?"

"What we watching?"

"The Snowman, I like this film"

Molly smiled and would love to sit and watch this movie with him, she liked The Snowman too and rather than actually be in anyone's way in the kitchen she decided she would sit in here with Sam and watch the TV. "Seeing as you asked so nicely" she sat back against the pillows behind her and felt Sam sit back with her. Some people probably didn't get on with their step-son but Molly loved Sam more than anything.

So the two of them sat and watched the film while Charles, Robert and Pam moved around the kitchen and dining room making sure that Christmas dinner and the table was done.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and it was a text from Fingers and it actually made her smile.

 _Of course I'm not going to have a good Christmas, I'm fucking stuck in Bath! x_

What Molly hadn't realised was that Charles had been about to speak and he watched her smile at the text and there was a feeling in his stomach that he had had once before and that was at the FOB in Afghanistan when he thought Molly and Smurf had got together when they were on r 'n' r. He moved away from the door without either of them knowing he was there.

Charles knew that he hadn't been fair to Molly over the last few months of their marriage and even she deserves someone who wouldn't treat her like he did but the thought of her moving on to someone else actually hurt him.

Molly quickly texted back to Fingers.

 _Oh poor you x_

-.-

Dinner was somewhat a noisy affair especially with the pulling of crackers and the sound of knives and forks on plates but at the same time there wasn't much talking only the sound of the plates and the odd grabbing of a glass but it was the opening of presents that was the noisiest of the whole day which actually consisted of Sam getting most of the presents under the tree and it was just a happy moment that Molly was happy to see especially when she wasn't sure it had even been possible.

Sam had lots of small presents but his big one was actually a telescope and he promised Molly that when the sky was clear and they could see the stars that he would show her the moon at its brightest or the stars that liked to twinkle but for now it would have to stay boxed because of the fact that there was just so much snow that they couldn't see anything but clouds and well snow.

They had started to watch a film when Molly got a video call from her family so rather than disturb the film she sat in the kitchen and took the call and smiled but at the same time her heart ached as her younger siblings showed her what they had got for Christmas and unlike last year she wasn't sure if she was going to make it to London. It felt like the weather was actually working against her and trying to keep her in Bath and if that was the case then the rest of 2 Section would be there too.

-.-

Molly was just finishing up her video call when Charles walked into the kitchen. She smiled at her brother who had been the last one to show her what they had got and promised that she would call them tomorrow on Boxing Day, at this rate she was going to have to send the presents she had got them by post and pray they actually got there.

Molly put the phone away when she said her goodbyes and held on to the cup of tea that she had got herself while out in the kitchen. "Not watching the film?"

"Well Sam is playing on the tablet and mum and dad are asleeop so that means I turned the movie off"

"It's all that hard work your parents have done over the last few days, proper knackered them out"

Charles got himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table "I'm going to have to go careful with the capsules because they are finishing up the Rosabaya ones"

"Oh no, what will you do in the mornings now?" Molly teased before smiling slightly. Rosabaya had been the coffee that she had got him while she had been on RnR and of course she had got them over the Christmases they had spent together but not this year, in fact she hadn't even thought about getting him anything other than delivering a good swift kick to his private parts but even she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"I might have to drink regular coffee..." the thought then horrified him "That's it, I'm writing a strongly worded letter to the coffee company"

Molly had to laugh especially with the look on his face, the one thing she hadn't actually gone after was his coffee machine and maybe she should've because of the fact that she knew just how precious that bloody thing was.

"I like it when you laugh" he spoke after a moment and wished that he hadn't because of the fact that the smile fell off her lips and she had looked down at her cup. "I shouldn't have said anything..."

"Maybe not but sometimes you say things that you're not meant too" she said and then took a drink of her tea. There was silence between them and she wasn't sure if she should even say anything but decided to fight against her brain telling her now to actually say anything and let her mouth do the talking even if that was still a little bit dangerous. "Why didn't you tell Georgie to leave last night? You knew I was here and you still let her stay so why?"

Charles was actually a little taken back by that especially when he hadn't expected that question to come out of her mouth after they had been teasing each other but now that it had been asked he honestly wasn't sure how to answer it mostly because of the fact that he wasn't sure why he hadn't kicked Georgie out. "Probably because I'm a stupid idiot who keeps taking his wife for granted and pushing her to her limits?" he really wished he could go back to the night before and just shake himself, hell he wished that he could take it all back and tell him that Molly was there and she was his wife and didn't deserve any of this but he can't.

"Well I would call you something stronger than an idiot but I don't want any little ears picking it up" Molly glanced in the direction of the kitchen door, she didn't want Sam to hear them arguing especially when they had been civil to each other throughout the day.

"Well I deserve it all no matter what you call me and more for how I treated you because honestly I am sorry for everything, I hope that you believe that"

If Molly is honest she doesn't know what to really believe right now but she hoped that even if they couldn't work it out completely then they could at least talk a bit more even if talking can sometimes become exhausting especially when there wasn't many actions.

"I promise that I won't have any more contact with Georgie because I really do want to be with you Molly, I want our life back again and to be the husband that you deserve, it's just going to take me some time to get back to how I was"

Molly knew that he would take a while for him to heal and she had told him to concentrate on getting better the night before when they sat and talked. "I'm not promising you anything, Charles, I hope you understand that"

"I do, I'm just grateful that we can at least talk through everything"

Molly wasn't sure what she would feel in two months time or four months or even next Christmas but if he was going to continue with the help he was getting and having no contact with Georgie then she would see just how things ended up. "Things will probably be easier when the snow melts and I go back to my flat" she muttered.

"Will it?" Charles asks and watches her. "Although I do have to admit that being snowed in with you hasn't actually been that bad, I'm sure you probably would've killed me in my sleep by now"

"There is still time" Molly lets a small smile pull at her lips and she looks back at him.

"Just don't do it with the coffee machine"

"I wont, I'll do it with the chest of drawers instead"

"Death by drawers... no wait... death by Dawes"

Molly laughs at that and really wished that she had a normal mind and didn't find that funny but she guessed that serving in the Army with 2 Section and how the guys would dream of contact with the enemy had changed her and she found things like that funny. "To death by Dawes... sounds like a book or even a film but I think I will take it"

Things were a bit more easier after that night, not much but at least they could smile for a moment and forget the night before just to get through the rest of the day and evening.


	10. Chapter 10

Boxing Day was usually the day where her siblings would sit and play with the stuff that they had had for Christmas and her nan would be over for the leftover food that they sometimes had but other than that it would mean that it was just a normal mad house day at the Dawes home.

Molly wished that she could say the same about today but she would be lying mostly because of the fact that the snow still hadn't melted but she was sure that the weather was saying that there wasn't anymore snow left up there. She would believe that when she saw it, what she wanted more than ever was to put a little bit of distance between herself and Charles.

She couldn't predict what was going to happen over the next few months but Molly knew that they had a long way to go before anything was sorted, Charles had a long way to go with therapy and that meant that they could put their relationship on hold for a moment just to make sure that he got everything that he needed. They still had a lot of talking to do but first she wanted him to get the help that he was getting and to sort himself out first.

-.-

Charles and Sam were in the kitchen and Sam was actually looking a bit sad mostly because of the fact that the snow had stopped coming down even if there were still snow on the ground, he wanted more and he wasn't sure if that would actually happen now.

"Cereal or toast?" Charles had asked his son who had put his cheek against his hand and was looking towards the window. "Sam..."

"Cereal..." he had said with a sigh and kept his eyes on the window.

"That doesn't sound so enthusiastic, what's wrong bud?" Charles sat down at the table with Sam and then finally his son looked over at him.

"Does the no snow mean that I have to go home back to mum's now?"

Charles glanced towards the window and noticed that it had stopped and wondered whether or not it would snow any more because of the fact that it mean two things, one would be that Rebecca would be getting Sam back and the other that Molly would be leaving. He knew he couldn't keep her here and it might not have been the best situation for her but he hoped that it might have cleared some things up like the fact that he didn't have feelings for Lane but there seemed to be a look in her eyes that made him think otherwise. That maybe she didn't actually believe him.

He put his eyes back on to his son "Well there is still snow on the ground so I doubt you will be able to get home today, why don't you want to go home?"

"I don't like Tim, he's not... you and even though I yelled at you on Christmas Eve I have enjoyed myself here and with Molly too, she built a snowman with me and I don't want to go home... Can't I live here with you and Molly?"

That actually was something that he never thought he would hear from Sam especially when he seemed to be so happy at home but Charles guessed that not everyone was always happy and he sighed under his breath because of the fact that this is one thing that he couldn't actually promise and Rebecca would have his guts if he promised Sam could live with him. "The thing is that we've got an agreement, me and your mum and we can't break it"

Molly had just got to the kitchen door when she heard what Sam had said and she wasn't sure if she would be able to explain just what was even going on with her and Charles and it made her feel a little bit sad mostly because of the fact that this little boy clearly loved his dad more than anything but Rebecca would probably take him to the cleaners if he tried to keep Sam here and that was the last thing that Charles should be doing.

There was silence and then Sam spoke once more "Will Molly be able to use my telescope with me when the weather is better?"

Molly took that as her chance to walk in "Of course, we will have to make sure that there is clear skies at night so that we can see all the stars and see where the moon is too, unlike now where it's still a little bit cloudy even at night so you keep an eye on the weather and you find out when there is clear skies and you call me" she sat down at the table next to Sam and smiled at him.

"Pinky promise?" he asked and held out his pinky so that Molly could put hers around his.

"Pinky promise" Molly responded and put hers around his and smiled.

Molly couldn't guarantee that she would be with Charles but if there was one person she could always be there that would be Sam or at least be there for as long as Rebecca allowed it because in the end she was the mother and she could make up the rules. It would hurt Molly if Rebecca ever stopped her from seeing this precious little boy but she would have to keep to the rules unfortunately.

"Now, you got breakfast to eat" she let his pinky go and looked over at Charles "You getting breakfast?"

"Yes, definitely, cereal right?" Charles looked over at Sam who nodded and then he got up from the table to make the breakfast once more.

Molly could always make sure that someone was calm and that was one of the things he loved about her and he knew that he would have to show her just how much it was that he did love her. He would live with his regrets for the rest of his life just to make sure that Molly was back with him but for now he would settle with the fact that she didn't hate him completely.

Charles got Sam his breakfast and looked over at Molly before he nudged his head in the direction of the hallway so that they could talk without Sam listening, Molly got up from her seat and followed after him. "Thanks for saying all of that"

Molly looked in the direction of the kitchen door "I meant it, whenever he wants to view those stars then I will be there for him" she looked up at Charles and honestly didn't want his thanks because of the fact that she still very much loved Sam, he couldn't help his father was actually a bit of a dickhead. "I heard what he said about not wanting to go home but you do realise that he _must_ go home because the last thing you need is Rebecca on your case"

"He will go home, in fact as soon as the snow starts melting I'm sure he will want to go but I will have to ring Rebecca just so that she knows he won't be home today, it's still really bad out there"

"I hope my snowman is still standing" she said after a moment and it was random moments like that when she would open her mouth and shit would actually come out but she was honestly being truthful because she wanted the bloody thing to still be standing, they had worked so hard on that thing and to find out that it had disappeared would actually make her want to cry.

"You come out with the most random stuff, I had forgotten that about you" Charles admitted and then cleared his throat before then speaking once more. "What about you? Will you be heading to London when the snow melts?"

"I doubt I will get there now, I think I will end up going back home rather than going in to London" Molly wasn't sure why he was even asking but it was better to be honest about her intentions because of the fact that she wasn't looking to stay here with Charles, they definitely had a lot more to talk about before anything else could be decided.

"And spending New Year's on your own?"

Molly nods, "It's better that I do because like I said we still have a long way to go and while spending time here has been definitely an experience, I want you to focus on getting better first and properly unloading and don't say you will because I know that in the end you won't so please just tell them everything and maybe then you can start in the direction of recovery."

Charles scoffed and looked down at the floor "How many times have I told you that and now you are telling me the same thing?"

"Ah, well you got to take your own advice in the end, Charles, because if not then what's the point in dishing it out if you can't exactly take it?"

"Sometimes I do wonder how I got so lucky when it comes to you because if i'm honest sometimes I don't deserve you"

"No, you don't deserve me sometimes especially after all of this but it's what it is, you can't help how you feel especially when it's someone that you love"

"Will we have a proper talk? A real in depth talk about what we are really going to do?"

"Yes," Molly nodded her head once "we will have that talk but I would rather it not be with Sam or your parents because as much as I love all three of them, some things shouldn't be talked about with ears listening" she wasn't looking forward to hearing more because of the fact that she didn't want to hear more about Georgie but if she was going to understand anything then she would have to listen to everything.

Charles knew that that talk was going to be a make or break one and he would rather get it over and done with but it was Molly's decision.

He was about to say something when there was a call from the kitchen..

"Dad, I've finished my breakfast can I watch some TV?"

Charles cleared his throat "Of course, just go and brush your teeth and wash your face first and then you can watch whatever you want to watch" he moved away from Molly and back towards the kitchen and suddenly felt likt everything was coming in between that very very important talk but for now he was going to do everything he can to make up not always being there for Sam.

If they couldn't work it out then Molly would rather that he spent more time with Sam, if they couldn't bring their relationship back then she wanted him to concentrate on Sam rather than her because he was important to Charles.

Molly moved in the direction of the front door, she grabbed her jacket and put it on before she actually stepped outside, it wasn't as cold as before and there was a bit of sun starting to come through so maybe it might start to melt the snow a little bit quicker.

She looked over on the green across from the house and saw kids playing on there and a grin pulled at her lips for a moment before she popped her head back in through the door. "Charles, Sam, get your coats on, we are going to have fun"

"Doing what?" Sam asked from the landing on the first floor.

"We still have snow left and we're going to have some fun so hurry up and get ready before all the sun is used by the rest of the kids" with that she shut the door behind her and put her hands into the pocket of her coat and found something in there and she pulled it out to see that it was a bit of paper.

Molly opened the paper and saw that there were words written on there, she read them and it caught her breath a little; it wasn't the cold that was doing it but the words and she wished that she could ignore what she felt because of the fact that she was still angry at Charles but she couldn't deny that it didn't make her feel a little bit warm on the inside.

 _I love you more than anything X_

The door open and she quickly put the note back in her pocket "Ready?"

They spoke in unison "Yes" before all three of them moved in the direction of the green and maybe for a moment they could forget what had happened between them and just have a bit of fun.


	11. Chapter 11

The day in the snow with the other kids had really lifted Sam's spirits and Molly was glad of that because he was too young to have any worries about him especially with going home. She liked seeing his face light up and that was what it was doing now.

Molly had heard one of the parents saying about the fact that it was going to warm up which could mean that the snow would melt faster but she never told Sam that, he was enjoying himself as it was and the last thing he needed to hear was that it would melt and disappear leading to him actually having to go home.

It would also mean that Molly would end up going home too.

When it was starting to get dark they decided to go in and was met with Pam and Robert putting their coats on. So while Molly, Charles and Sam was coming in, they were heading out.

"Don't you look fancy" Molly commented as she was removing her coat and putting it back up on the hanger by the door.

"Mrs Paulson three doors down asked us over to dinner, she gave us the invatation on Christmas Eve and it is rude to not accept so we thought we would do it tonight, we will be careful especially with the snow and you three will have to prepare some dinner, although there is some left over food in the fridge if you want that"

"Well you have a good time, mum" Charles said and rubbed his hands together to get them to warm up.

"The woodburner is lit so feel free to enjoy it while we're out, oh and Sam your mother called I promised her that you would ring back so do that so she doesn't worry"

"Pam..." Molly walked over to her and put her hands against her arms "don't worry, enjoy the night and we will make sure that everything is done this end"

Pam gave Molly a smile and then she nodded and turned to Robert "Let's go dear, don't want to keep Brenda waiting" she put her arm through her husbands and then left the house leaving the three of them there.

"Your mother does know it's like really early right?" Molly turned to Charles and raised an eyebrow, Sam was walking towards the phone to ring his mother, the last thing the poor boy needed was to hear Rebecca talking on the phone but she was his mother and Molly would get worried if he didn't ring her.

"You still haven't learned that my mother never likes to be late, they probably will have a bit of nibbles before the main course especially if there is drinking involved, although I think that drink and snow should never mix" he couldn't believe that he was saying all of this with a straight face because the next bit would definitely cause a smile to anyone's face. "People tend to fall in the snow when they have had too much to drink"

Molly bit down on her lip to try to stop herself from laughing but a smile was starting to pull at the corners of her lips and she could feel the laugh bubbling so she just had to laugh, "I'm sorry.." she said and put her hand to her face. "I'm having a hard time keeping my face straight because now I have the image of your mum falling in the snow"

Charles playfully gasped "What are you saying about my mother?" He laughed anyway after that. Sam then came over to them looking a little glum "What's up buddy?"

"Mum wants me home tomorrow or at least for you to try to get me there, apparently we're going to Tim's mothers and staying there for a couple of days" he then looked up at Molly "Her house smells like cabbage"

Molly put her palm against her mouth because of the fact Sam came out with _that_ and she tried to stop the laugh from shaking her body so she had to walk away from the both of them, not hearing what they were talking about she headed in to the kitchen and cleared her throat to stop herself from laughing but there was definitely tears in her eyes from where she had been holding in the laugh.

Charles had got on the phone straight away with Rebecca and Molly could hear him speaking from the kitchen and knew that this was one conversation she didn't want to hear. Rebecca was being absolutely silly if she thought that Charles would risk the life of Sam in this weather just to make sure that he got him home. Rebecca came to a compromise that _if_ the snow had cleared enough in a couple of days then Charles would bring him to Tim's mother in the Cotswolds but right now he was staying there in Bath til the weather cleared enough for it to even be safe.

"That woman sometimes makes me want to shout" Charles said after coming in to the kitchen a little while later.

"Ex wives, they do tend to make their ex husbands a little bit crazy" she held up her forefinger and her thumb to indicate just how little it was, in fact it wasn't little at all she had put a big gap between her finger and thumb.

"Sam's watching TV for a bit and then I'll cook tea, if you want anything that early?"

"I'll cook tea, you go and have some time with Sam" she nudged her head in the direction of the living room. Charles should definitely have some time with his son and even if it was just watching the TV at least they would be doing it together and even just having that father/son moment on whatever movie would be on today.

"You really don't like my cooking do you?" Charles teased and then nodded. "Alright well if you have any trouble then I will help you"

"God forbid" she said over her shoulder at him with a grin before she goes around the kitchen to see what she could use and whether or not.

Molly heard him leave the kitchen and she took a deep breath, the note in her pocket was starting to cloud her judgement when it came to Charles mostly because of the fact what was written on the paper. She had to separate both feelings because she knew they couldn't be together right now, they had to go on the paths they were on to see just where it lead.

She cleared her throat and pushed that thought out of her mind. Molly had to concentrate on the matter in hand before she even let mixed feelings of Charles in her head.

-.-

After Molly cooked tea, which was bloody good in her mind, they were sat in the front room and Sam was on the sofa and if she looked over then Molly could just about see that the boy had fallen asleep on the sofa. She stood and put the blanket over him before she went and sat on the floor in front of the woodburner.

There had been times when they had come here that Molly and Charles would sit in front of the burner together and she would lay her head against his shoulder. It might sound a little bit sickening because of how romantic it sounded but honestly that had been the best moment.

Charles had gone to make some tea and when he came back he found Molly sitting on the floor and Sam fast asleep, a smile pulled at his lips softly because it wasn't even that late and still his parents were out. For the first time it felt like normalcy had descended on them and he was going to take control of that moment. "Here you go" he handed her a mug and then sat down carefully beside her.

"Thanks" she said after she took the mug. "Sam definitely is knackered out after today" Molly glanced over her shoulder and saw the sleeping young boy and smiled to herself. She was glad that he had a good time while they were outside.

Things can't be easy especially when Molly's sure he could've picked up on some things between her and Charles. Being in this situation definitely hadn't been something that Molly had planned for but it's something that happened and now she just has to deal with everything being thrown at her from all different directions.

"Yeah, it was good for him to get out and have some fun but I can't keep him here especially when Rebecca wants him back" Charles sighed and shook his head slightly.

"He really doesn't like Tim" Molly had only met him a couple of times but even to her he seemed like a stuck up shit, well she thought the same about Charles when she had first met him at Brize. She put the cup to her lips and took a drink when the next thing had her almost choking on her tea.

"Or his mothers cabbage smelling house" he looked over at Molly when she nearly choked on her drink and he chuckled low under his breath. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you choke but it's just the way that he looked at you and said it"

"I'm pretty sure that I almost died laughing in the kitchen and now you're trying to choke me with tea, tsk"

The silence fell between them again and they both looked back towards the woodburner and it felt peaceful like this was how it was always meant to be. They didn't feel married but rather like they were dating where everything was new and they didn't know how the other person would react. It wasn't awkward but it definitely felt like they were dating again.

Molly wasn't sure what to even say but that might be down to the fact that she liked the silence, it was warmer and they could just enjoy it. She turned and looked at him, her eyes moving over the side of his face as he looked in to the fire. The orange of the flames lighting up his features and he looked so beautiful.

It's weird thinking of a man looking beautiful but he really did and how he looked right now she could easily forget what had happened.

Charles turned and looked at her too and she could see his eyes moving down to her lips and watched as he started to lean forward, his lips brushed against hers.

Molly knew she probably should stop him when he started to lean towards her but she didn't and as he kissed her she sank in to it. Maybe she was being an idiot and she definitely shouldn't be letting him kiss her but she folded around his kiss and kissed him back.

He turned slightly towards her and his hand moved up to her cheek as he let his thumb brush against the skin there, his lips moving against hers.

After a moment Molly pulled away from the kiss and muttered something to him. "Sam.."

"What?" Charles was a little confused and he looked at her properly.

"Sam is asleep on the sofa and," she pulled her lip in between her teeth and bit on it for a moment before she carried on. "maybe it's best if we don't do that" Molly cleared her throat and looked away.

"Right.." Charles nodded once and then looked over at Sam who was indeed still asleep on the sofa. "I think I should put him to bed" he stood up and moved over to the sofa to pick his son up and take him upstairs. Sam was definitely older that he didn't need to be carried upstairs but he was asleep so he would do it.

Molly shook her head and wished that they really hadn't kissed especially when it had felt so good, she couldn't lose sight of what had happened and that note and the day had left her feeling like that. She sighed and shut the door of the woodburner up before she grabbed the cups of teas from the floor and took them in to the kitchen. Maybe _she_ needed to go to bed, it had felt like a long day and if the snow was melting then she would be heading home soon.

She walked out the kitchen and as she did the front door opened and Pam and Robert walked in. "You guys have a good time?"

"It was fun but boy am I gasping for a cuppa, where's Charles?" Robert asked as he helped his wife with her coat and then hanging it up.

Molly watched the two of them and it made her feel a little jealous because she so wanted to have her husband back but everything was still a mess. "Put Sam to bed, I'm going to head up myself but there is tea in the kitchen if you would like one"

"You are a star" Pam smiled and then kissed Molly's cheek gently. "Goodnight my darling" she then walked in to the kitchen and Robert smiled too before wishing her a goodnight.

Molly watched them once more and smiled too before she headed up the stairs. She was up a floor higher than Sam so when she saw Charles come out of his sons room she gave him a smile too and then scratched at her cheek. "Goodnight"

"Night Molly" Charles watched her and ran his tongue over his bottom lip and then started to walk away from her.

Molly closed her eyes and sighed under her breath; this was stupid and she needed to get herself to bed. She opened her eyes and saw that he hadn't gone down the stairs yet and watched as he turned back towards her and he moved in her direction, as he met her their lips crashed against each others.

They then moved up the stairs in the direction of his bedroom and once at the door they were pretty much ripping at each other's clothes, they walked in to the bedroom and he shut the door behind them.

Sex was going to make things more awkward but at the moment they honestly didn't care because they were too much interested in each other.


	12. Chapter 12

She didn't want to wake up, Molly was aware that she was comfortable and warm and as she slowly opened her eyes she was aware of the curtains being open a little and she could see snow coming down. Was it snowing again or was it melting outside already?

This was actually the best nights sleep she had had in a long time and she wasn't in a hurry to move but then again Molly was also aware of something heavy against the back of her own head and she wanted to ignore it but whatever it was was making her own head feel a bit heavy.

Then her nose picked up the scent of deodrant and she knew it very well and then her eyes widened at the realization of just _whose_ deodrant it was and then last night came back to her like a dream that she had been watching in a cinema. Now she understood why she had slept so well because of the fact that she had ended up sleeping with Charles and that really was the last thing both of them needed.

Molly gently put the duvet back and then slowly she moved out of bed, Charles' head moved when she moved her own but he didn't wake up and if he did then he hid it well. She sat on the edge of the bed and quickly put her clothes back on before she tip-toed out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind her and then making her way over to the bedroom that she had been staying in.

"Shit...shit...shit" she had said as she shut the door behind her in her own room and moving to the bed.

When she first found out about the snow-in she would be having with Charles and his family this definitely hadn't been the way that she thought it would be ending. Sleeping with him hadn't been her intention at all but now that she had she was going to have to make sure that she didn't confuse her feelings because they still were where they were in the relationship department but she had to admit that it was nice to finally be cuddled up with him. To have his lips against hers again.

Molly fell back on the bed, her head bouncing against the duvet and she looked up at the ceiling.

This was a mess.

Charles moved his arm and his hand fell on to the place that Molly should've been but it was empty, he opened his eyes and looked around the room but Molly was nowhere to be seen and while last night definitely hadn't been planned; he couldn't deny that it hadn't felt good to hold on to Molly again. To have her fall asleep in his arms.

He missed his wife and he was going to do everything he could just to get her back.

In the other room Molly grabbed her mobile and knew it was still a little bit early but there was someone she wanted to talk to that would help her figure all of this out right now. She moved up the bed so that her head was against her pillow and she pressed _call_ on her phone and listened to the dial tone.

After what felt like forever the other person picked up and Molly let out a sigh of relief. "I'm sorry if I woke you early"

"You didn't," Sarah replied. "I'm up making myself a coffee because it's been a long night and it's going to be an even longer day but on the plus side.. Monster-in-law is going home today so what's wrong?"

"I slept with Charles" Molly said in a soft voice just in case anyone passed her door, the last thing she wanted right now was for Pam or even Robert to hear and she definitely didn't want Sam to hear either.

"O-oh" she said and put the cup down on the table before sitting down. There was silence for a moment and then Sarah said "What was it like?"

"Well he is a very passionate person and he really does this thing where- wait no that's not what I called about I called to ask you to call me an idiot because I slept with my cheating husband"

Sarah could actually see that Charles was a passionate person and the way he had looked at Molly had been like she was his sunshine and he felt like if he looked away then he would miss it. "Will that make you feel better if I call you an idiot?"

"Yes... no... I don't know" Molly sighed and put her hand against her face for a moment.

"Well the thing is Molly, you're stuck in with him so it was only a matter of time before something happened; either you killed him or you slept with him and you decided to make love instead of war"

"You're really not helping"

Sarah laughed softly "What I'm trying to say is that yes the guy did wrong, yes things are probably going to get complicated but for a moment just enjoy the fact that your husband still loves you and wants to be with you"

"I don't know what to do, everything is just up in the air right now and I don't like feeling so unsure on everything"

Sarah chewed on her lip for a moment and she loved Molly, in fact she was the best friend that she was glad she found, but she had to be honest with her. She had to tell her straight because of the fact that there was no point in beating about the bush. "Well you have two options here"

"What are those?" Molly asked and looked up at the ceiling once more.

"Either forgive him or at least slowly start to forgive him or... you let him go and move on because it's not healthy for either of you to be in a place where nothing is sure."

There was silence on the phone so then Sarah spoke again "Only you can decide what you want to do Molly and don't let Charles try and change your mind either, if it's not right for _you_ then what's the point in making yourself unhappy?"

Molly moved her eyes over to the window and she got up from the bed before moving over to the window and drawing the curtain back to look out at the snow and found that it wasn't actually snowing but the snow was starting to melt.

The thing is that she knew Sarah was talking sense and knew that there was only two ways around this and that was to forgive and forget or end it completely and let both parties move on.

Molly needed to decide what she wanted to do and she needed to decide quickly. "Thanks Sarah, i'll let you get back to your coffee in peace"

"Are you going to be alright, Molls?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I will be" Molly ended the call and put her phone on the bed.

The first thing Charles liked was a coffee and so that was what she was going to do right now. Molly headed downstairs as quietly as she could and made some coffee. She didn't touch the stuff herself but she knew that he liked his coffee machine and of course had had it shipped over in Afghan.

While the coffee was making she had a lot of thought about what Sarah had said and they either had to work it out or just let it go. She grabbed herself a cup of tea and then once the coffee was finished she headed back upstairs and into the bedroom that Charles had been staying in. He had rolled over onto his back but was still asleep. Molly put the coffee cup down on his bedside cupboard and moved around to the side of the bed that she had woken up on and sat back down.

As soon as they head met each other she had got on the wrong side of him and then slowly as the tour progressed she had won his favour and definitely his eye. It was only when they pulled out of Afghan did anything really happen between them and they always found a way to make it work and when he proposed it had been the most beautiful proposal ever. It had left Molly in tears because of how beautiful it had been.

Molly reached down and ran her fingers lightly through his dark hair.

He opened up his eyes and looked up at his wife with a soft smile. "I thought you had gone" he admitted.

"Only to make a cuppa" she held up her mug that she had in the other hand. "Made you a coffee too"

"You are a star" Charles sat up against the headboard and grabbed his coffee cup. If he was honest he could get used to mornings like this again, mornings where he woke up with Molly next to him but Charles knew that he had to be careful with Molly so that he doesn't push her away.

Silence fell between the two of them and now Molly was starting to feel a little bit awkward with how quiet it was and she looked up at Charles and sighed "I didn't go just to make a drink," she admitted "I left because of the fact that I woke up in your bed"

Charles knew that she had left quickly he had felt her moving on the bed putting her clothes on and he had even opened his eyes once to see her getting dressed and once she stood up he had closed his eyes back up so that she wouldn't know that he had been awake. The last thing he wanted was for Molly to be put under pressure by what had happened last night.

"You really don't have to explain, Molly" he said softly and gave her a smile. "Things are all over the place right now"

"Yeah, they are" Molly wanted so badly to know what to do, what Sarah had said was swirling around her mind, either she took him back or she let him go. Molly couldn't have it both ways.

"I know that you probably don't want to hear this but I promise that I will never hurt you ever again" he put his hand against her cheek gently and Charles felt her tilt her cheek towards his hand so he ran his thumb against the skin and watched her.

Molly closed her eyes as he stroked his thumb against her cheek and she could feel warm tears collecting behind her lids and she was worried about them falling but one had sneaked out and ran down towards his thumb and he wiped it away. She put her mug on the beside cabinet and he did the same with his and she moved back and he laid down in the bed once more with Molly putting her head on his chest.

He kissed her dark hair and whispered to her "I don't like seeing you cry"

Molly didn't like crying but she only hoped that it would only be a couple of tears not full on mascara running looking like a panda crying. He really didn't need to see that, Charles had seen that a couple of times and he didn't need it right now. She cuddled into his side and just let him hold on to her for a little bit longer.

The note had stirred all of this and for a moment she had forgotten all about what had happened between him and Lane and just lived in the moment but it had all come back this morning.

Molly had only meant to lay with him for a moment but she had ended up falling back to sleep and Charles didn't have any objections as he held on to her. He hadn't known she had fallen asleep until he felt her breath was soft againt his chest and he moved some of her hair back and kissed her forehead gently.

-.-

When Molly woke up this time she was alone and the sun was starting to shine in through the curtains and she didn't even know what time it actually was but she heard a phone vibrating and she thought it was hers so she reached over and grabbed hold of it and she shook herself to wake herself up a little bit and expecting a message from Sarah because of the fact that she had rang her this morning but she saw a text from _Georgie_

 _I am sorry about turning up Christmas Eve, I didn't know that Molly would be there. Hope you had a good Christmas and everything worked out. -G x_

Molly knew that Georgie had the worst fucking timing ever and she wanted to text back telling her exactly what she thought about her but she wouldn't do it on Charles' phone. So she went looking for her own and when she found it she found that she was actually lost for words; Molly wasn't sure she could actually put in to words just what she wanted to tell Georgie; but she would try.

 _We had a good Christmas and.._ she got rid of that and tried again.

 _You should be fucking sorry..._ She got rid of that too.

She gave it a third try and this time she was going to send it no matter what.

 _Stop texting my husband, turning up on Christmas Eve didn't do any one good and I don't want you to contact Charles again. If you have a problem with that then you talk to me and not him. I truly hope that you do find someone to love, and you get everything you want out of life, because that's what we all hope for, right? Good luck and goodbye Georgie - Molly._

Molly grabbed hold of Charles' phone and deleted the text from Georgie and put it back on the beside cupboard before she got up from the bed and pulled the curtains back the rest of the way. At the window she blocked Georgie's number on her own phone and she felt her heart give a thump because she finally felt free of Georgie Lane.

She headed downstairs and it seemed like everyone was rushing about, Pam was rushing to the door and opened it to see a neighbour there, Robert was on the phone and moving from the kitchen towards his study and as for Charles and Sam well they were leaving the front room and heading towards the kitchen. Molly put her head over the bannister and said to them. "What's going on?"

"We've got a relief in the weather and it looks like everything is melting and Sam is hoping that he can play with his football before he heads home tomorrow"

Molly raised an eyebrow at them and then smiled "Well okay then but surely it's going to be a little bit of a mess"

"Well that's always the fun part, we can clean the mess up later" Charles grinned. "You want to play?"

"Uh no I think I'm going to sit this one out so have fun and I'm going to get myself some food"

"See you soon, Molly" Sam smiled and held up his gloved hand in a wave before turning to his dad "Come on, Dad"

"Have fun mate" she held her hand up in a wave too and watched as the two moved in to the kitchen and even heard the backdoor shut behind them and she laughed under her breath before she carried on down the stairs.


	13. Chapter 13

The day had been one of those days that was just perfect and for someone who wanted to forget a lot right now it just seemed to be the perfect time.

Sam, Molly and Charles came in to the house with cold cheeks and they looked like a beautiful family unit well in a way they were.

Sam still wasn't looking forward to going to Tim's mum's house who he still said smelt like cabbage and Molly knew that even if they wanted to they couldn't keep him with them especially when Molly was going to head back to her own place in Warminster because there was no way she was going to make it to London.

The trains would be running sure but there wouldn't be much time to actually spend with her family and she had already missed Christmas.

So after tea that night she helped Sam to pack up some of his stuff even if she wished that she didn't have to say goodbye to this small boy but Rebecca was his mother and did need him back so that she could spend time with him.

"I'm sure you will have a good time in the country, you can build more snowmen and definitely make sure that you get Tim with a few snowballs but shh don't tell anyone I said that" Molly smiled at him.

"Our little secret" he winked at her before he sat down on the bed once more. "Will you come with dad when he takes me to the cottage?"

Molly wasn't sure what she should really say to that mostly because of the fact that she wasn't sure if she should go or not. Charles hadn't asked her and normally she would've jumped at the chance to go on a roadtrip with him even if it was just so that they could be together but right now everything was in unchartered waters and they were trying to find a way to make things somewhat normal and what if he didn't want her to go?

"You might have to see your dad about that" Molly replied and just left it at that because of the fact that it was better than her saying no.

"Will I ever get to use my telescope?"

"You will when there is clear skies but at the moment with it being cloudy at night probably not but you make sure that you ring me to tell me when the next clear night is"

Molly's thoughts then turned to that text that Georgie had sent Charles this morning and she wondered if she ought to tell him about it or about whether or not she had deleted it. She knew that not everyone needed to know everything but this was something that she didn't want hanging over her especially when she had basically told Georgie to fuck off in the text that she had sent. Even though she was a little bit more civil than that.

If she's being honest it felt like a weight hanging over her head and she didn't want that to be there especially when being honest was the way to go with the two of them.

"Earth to Molly..." Sam said and looked over at her.

"Sorry mate, I was far away, what were you saying?"

Sam smiled at her "It's okay,I was saying that I've got everything in my bag"

Molly looked at the bag on the bed and saw that it was indeed full up with his stuff but at the moment they weren't even sure that they would be going anywhere tomorrow they just wanted to make sure that they had everything that they needed just in case Sam did end up going to Tim's mum's in the morning. They couldn't put the journey off especially when Rebecca would no doubt demand that Sam is returned to her.

"Well now you're all packed I'm sure that you can play on the tablet for a little bit if your dad allows you and then bed" Molly kissed his head and then stood up and watched as Sam went downstairs to ask Charles if he could play on the tablet like Molly had said.

Molly herself reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out her mobile and found that she had had a text from Sarah asking how everything was going, she texted back and kept it brief but she knew that Sarah would understand it anyway. She received a couple texts from Fingers and Brains and she smiled at how much they hadn't changed from being idiots but she loved them all the same.

Molly left Sam's bedroom and headed downstairs and she looked over at Charles' coat and started to bite on her nail for a moment but knew that if she started to snoop on his texts then she wouldn't be able to stop and that trust, whatever was left, would be completely gone and she didn't want to be one of those women. But she did want to block Lane's number on his phone.

Sam ran passed and back up the stairs this time with the tablet and Molly smiled before shaking her head, she looked back at the coat before sighing and moving away from it. Molly was _hoping_ that Georgie would've got the message by now to leave them both alone. They all needed time to heal and if Georgie was in Charles' life then it was like ripping off a plaster everytime they were together. Not only because of Elvis but because of Molly too.

Molly walked into the kitchen and just as she did Charles looked up from his laptop and smiled at her. She smiled back before she took a seat. "Anything fun?"

"Unless you mean getting emails from Rebecca fun then no, oh and Sam wants you to come on the drive tomorrow, you don't have to especially if you're not up to it"

"Ah, emails from the ex wife" Molly teased and then she nodded "I would love to come but how are we getting there?"

"We're going to use dad's car..."

"But didn't you tell Rebecca that you had trouble with it and that's why you couldn't bring Sam up before?"

"Uh huh..." Charles tried to keep a straight face but the smile was starting to pull at the corners of his mouth and it was definitely cute when he was trying to be coy but he could never manage it.

"Crafty... I like it" Molly pointed at him before she looked around and saw that his parents weren't there but she didn't remember Pam or Robert even saying that they wouldn't be there when she came back down from helping Sam but Charles must've known what she was thinking because he finally said where they were.

"Dad got a call from his work and you know that he always needs mum to help him out so they're in the study at the moment going over everything"

It might make him sound soppy but he wanted to be like his mum and dad. The couple that went through so much but they still managed to stay together. They had helped him out with so much; the breakdown of his marriage to Rebecca and the divorce; the death of Elvis and everything that followed; the break down of his second marriage to Molly. They had been there through thick and thin and he was going to be like that with Sam. If that boy needed him no matter what time of day or night then he would be there.

The same would be for Molly, if she ever needed him then he would be there no matter what but it seemed as if Molly didn't need anyone sometimes.

"You do know that with the snow starting to melt then I'll be heading back to Warminster.." Molly watched as his fingers stopped moving on the laptop and it was as if he thought that she would stay here with him but she still had her own life back in Warminster. He knew that.

"I know" he smiled at her but it wasn't the smile that he would've used before. This one felt fake because he didn't want her to go, he didn't want her to leave but he knew that they still weren't together. They had slept together yes but that doesn't mean anything and he knew that.

Molly knew that he had been pretending but she didn't actually bring it up mostly because of the fact she didn't want to see any hurt look in his brown eyes. But she did have to admit that the car ride to Tim's mum's was going to be interesting. She got up from her spot and moved over to where he was and kissed his head gently. "I'll leave you alone to deal with the ex, there's something I need to do anyway" she smiled and then moved in the direction of the kitchen door.

Charles let out a shaky breath before he looked back at the computer then he changed the page that he had put on the screen to the one that he had originally been on before Molly had come in to the kitchen. The Facebook account of Georgie came up and he went back to writing the message that he had been writing when Molly came in to the kitchen.

 _Georgie, I know that we said that we would always be there for each other to help the other with the grieving process of Elvis but I have a chance to get Molly back and I know what I said back on tour when I asked you if you could ever love me but I realised that I needed help and only saying those words to you because of going through PTSD was one of the worst things I could do. We will always be connected because of Elvis and while he was my best friend, sleeping with you had been the wrong thing to do because I do advantage of the situation and while I'm getting help I've come to realise that what we had done was wrong. I think it's best that we don't have any communication just so that we both can heal and become better because that is what we both need. Goodbye Georgie - Charles._

He shut the laptop down after that and left the kitchen.

Charles didn't know what Georgie would say to that but right now he was doing what was best for him. He would always love Elvis, he would always miss him, but he was gone and Charles was still there. He had to let himself heal too and by having Georgie in his life he knew that he couldn't do that or at least not properly anyway.

He went to find Molly just like he would do all the time.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day saw Charles, Molly and Sam on their way to the Cotswolds and Tim's mum's cabbage cottage. The snow was slowly melting in the cities but when it came to the country that was a different story and it was like a beauitful Christmas card because of how perfect it looked out there.

They kept to talk that definitely didn't involve feelings but more about the fact that they had built snowmen, threw snowballs and just had a good time and Sam definitely wanted more snow, he wanted it to snow more so that he could build more snowmen while at the cottage. He wasn't sure just what Tim would do if he asked him to build the snowmen himself.

By the sound of it Tim wasn't exactly a big fan of kids but Rebecca was determined that Tim would love Sam because there was no way that Sam was going to left out of anything; he was her son and that was that.

The drive took a lot longer than it probably would've done on a normal day because of the snow so it was lucky that Robert had let Charles drive his car. Molly made sure that they all used seatbelts just in case. No one likes to think like that but when there was snow it was definitely a hazard and Pam made sure they had everything they needed and things they didn't need but they would have it in the car just in case.

Molly had only met the guy a couple of times and she definitely hasn't gone to his mother's cottage before.

Sam, after a while, asked if he could watch a film so he put the portable DVD player on and earphones in and it meant that there was silence in the car so Charles put the radio on and let music fill in the silence.

It was actually a comfortable silence and Molly looked out the window at the fields that were going by and she wondered what it would be like to live in the country other than the fact that no one would actually find her if she did live in the country. But then again she would miss Starbucks and New Look.

The music had been relatively upbeat, especially considering a few days ago it was nothing but Christmas songs, until a song came on that Molly and Charles both recognised because it was played a lot on the radio and now they were playing it again. Lady Antebellum started playing with _Need You Now_ and it felt like the song they would play and that seemed to actually call out to them.

 _And I wonder if I ever cross your mind...For me it happens all the time._

Molly looked over at Charles before she looked back away and she didn't see the look on Charles' face. He couldn't look over at her because he needed to keep his eyes on the road but this song really did seem to scream out at them.

"Trust Rebecca to find someone that lives out in the sticks," Charles commented "or at least his cabbage smelling mother"

Molly snorted at that and they both laughed. Sam didn't hear them because he had his earphones in his ears but he could see that something was happening and he smiled to himself.

-.-

They finally got to Imogen's cottage and Molly's mouth fell open because the cottage was so pretty and knowing that she lived in London which was hustling and bustling she found that this place was really quiet and the cottage was called _Lilac Cottage_ and there was smoke coming out of the chimney. She had never had that. Central heating had been their source of heat.

Molly sat in the front seat for a moment with her mouth open before Charles knocked on her window and she opened the door. He asked her if she was going in for a moment and Molly nodded her head. She got out the car and looked down the long-ish drive and then the smell hit her. "My god what is that smell"

"That my beautiful wife is the scent of the country, take it in Dawes. I will be moving out of Bath one of these days for a cottage and the quiet life"

"On your own, sure" Molly muttered and then opened the back passenger door for Sam to get out. "Make sure you have everything out of the car" she said and once he was out she grabbed his earphones and the DVD that he had been watching out of the player.

Molly shut the car door and looked up to see an old-ish woman standing at the front door of the cottage and she guessed that this was Imogen. She gave her a smile but there wasn't one received and she suddenly felt an even colder chill go down her back and wished that she had stayed home. "Tim's mother is grumpy" Molly spoke to Sam who looked up towards the other woman and sighed.

"And smells like cabbage" he muttered and looked at Molly and gave her a soft smile before he moved over to where his father was standing with the older woman.

Rebecca came to the door and Sam gave her a hug and Molly watched them together and a pang of jealousy settled in her heart, it wasn't because of Sam hugging Rebecca but because a son who loved his mother was hugging her and she wondered if she would ever get that. Even though she was still pretty young and she still had her life ahead of her; most people had kids by now but could _she_ really do that especially when she was in the Army and would still travel or go to some conflict.

Molly pushed those thoughts out of her mind and settled on letting quiet entered in her mind where she didn't actually think of anything.

"Got the car working then I see?" Rebecca asked Charles as she let Sam go.

Charles gave her a smile before he cleared his throat. "Well it just turned on, nothing I could do if it didn't work." he gave a shrug of his shoulder.

Rebecca hummed in reply because she knew he was lying.

"Would you both like a cuppa before you head back?" Imogen asked and let her eyes stray to Charles but never looked at Molly.

Charles could sense that maybe Molly wasn't actually invited into the cottage but he didn't understand why because it wasn't as if Rebecca was cheating on Tim with Charles or even Molly so he didn't get the hostile feeling towards his wife. He looked over at Molly who seemed to leave the decision up to him and normally he probably would've gone in, like he has before, but he was going to protect his wife and turned to Imogen and said "No, we better get back to Bath, I don't want to leave the journey that long" he gave a slight smile and then looked over at Sam.

"You have a good time, alright bud?" Charles smiled. "And if you need me then you know you can just Skype me or even ring"

"Thank you for the amazing Christmas, dad" Sam then walked up to him and gave Charles a tight hug and even though he was a little heavier than he had been when he was young; his father managed to pick him up and Sam heled on a little bit more tighter because he still didn't want to stay. "I love you" he whispered in to Charles' ear and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Charles felt his heart break a little because saying goodbye to Sam was always hard and he never liked to do it but they had this arrangement in place so that it didn't have to go to court where one of them got full custody because if he was honest he would probably fail and full custody would go to Rebecca. "I love you too" he said and then slowly put him down before Sam went over to Molly and gave her a hug too.

"Remember keep an eye out for those clear nights" Molly whispered to him and gave Sam a hug back.

"I will, thank you Molly" Sam gave her a kiss on the cheek too before he pulled out the hug and went back to his mother.

Charles smiled at his son and then he slowly walked back to the car. Sam gave them both a sad wave and they got in the car and Molly heard Charles sigh and looked over at her "This is always the hardest bloody bit, especially when I know he doesn't want to stay here tonight" Charles admitted before he started the car and waved to his son before he turned carefully on the drive and headed back towards the road.

Molly knew he hated leaving Sam but sadly it was something he had to do unless he wanted to lose custody of Sam all together.

The drive back towards Bath was definitely quiet and in that quiet there was one thought that seemed to move around in both of their heads and it was the text that Molly had sent to Georgie and the message that Charles had sent to Georgie himself last night.

-.-

Halfway back to Bath the pestering from their thoughts got so bad that Charles said to Molly "I have something that I want to tell you"

"So do I but you can go first" Molly would rather let him talk first and get it out in the open before she even dropped her own bombshell because she wasn't sure what he would say to what she had done.

Charles wasn't sure if he wanted to go first because of the fact that for a moment he had gone back on his word about contacting Georgie, even if he had told Georgie that they shouldn't communicate again. But he took a deep breath and said "I sent a message to Georgie last night.."

Molly was quiet and she looked out the window "Oh" she muttered and sighed softly before shaking her head.

"I told her that we shouldn't talk anymore" he added on and glanced over at Molly.

"You did?" Molly finally looked over at him and he nodded. Well that definitely took a turn that she hadn't expected because she thought that he was going to say something else but it made her smile a little because she didn't even have to press him to cut off communication with Georgie; he had done it himself.

"Yes, I did because I realised what we had done had been wrong and I really, _really_ , want to show you just how serious I am when it comes to wanting you back" he then stopped for a minute and when Molly didn't speak he then said "So what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Molly cleared her throat and then said "I texted Georgie telling her to leave you alone and..." she definitely wasn't sure what he would say to this but she was going to tell him anyway "you had a text from her before I sent my message and I got rid of it"

Charles raised an eyebrow at her and his face fell "You got rid of my messages? You went in to my phone, jesus Molly" he shook his head. "It feels like you don't trust me"

Molly knew he would act like this and she wasn't going to tell him but he would probably find out. "She texted you after I told you not to have any communication with her and this text just happens to come through to your phone and it was the morning after we slept together"

He sighed again and wanted so badly to be mad but if he was in her position, if it had been Molly that had cheated then he would tell the other guy to fuck off. To get rid of the message and the number all together. Charles would make sure that the jackass wouldn't get in touch with Molly again. "Did you get rid of the number?"

"No, I left it on there" she admitted.

Charles nodded and then reached down to the side and grabbed his mobile phone and handed it over to Molly "You can block the number and get rid of it"

"You want me to do it?" Molly was a bit confused because she thought that there would be a bit more shouting and maybe later there would be but she also knew that he had to keep his eyes on the road so now wasn't the time to actually argue. She took his mobile and got rid of the number.

She put the mobile back down on the centre consol and went back to looking out of the window and honestly couldn't believe that had been so easy. It felt like she was dreaming about this and this was the outcome she wanted but wouldn't get.

The silence was there again and it was welcomed by the both of them.

-.-

The roads in the country were so bad in the snow that he would rather not have come out today but Rebecca wanted Sam back. So when they came to a bend that took them up by a farm house Charles went around the bend and there had been an accident involving two cars and because there hadn't been enough stopping space when he saw the cars in front it was too late they crashed into the cars and his first and only words were "Molly!"

The crash which had been bad before had now turned worse and his wife was unconscious in the front seat next to him.

"Molly..." he called again and reached over to check her and found that she was still breathing and he reached over and grabbed his mobile to call for help and he just about started talking to the Emergency services before he too passed out.

What Charles didn't realise was the farmer had heard the first crash and was already on the phone to the E.S when he heard the second and updated them with the news before he headed out of the house to see if he could help any of them but when he got there the crash was pretty bad.

He just hoped that no one was too badly hurt.


	15. Chapter 15

The last thing he remembered was passing out while he was speaking to the E.S and now he was slowly starting to come around and there were people that was helping him out of the car. He tried to look over at Molly but the paramedic wouldn't let him move his neck while it was in the brace just to be safe.

"Molly.." he said and looked up at the female paramedic.

"What was that, my love?" she asked and looked between Charles and the other male paramedic that was there with her.

"Have you got Molly out?" He wanted them to make sure that Molly was out and fine before they even sorted him out but it might also be that they needed to get him out before they even started to get Molly out.

"We're in the middle of getting Molly out now" the female paramedic, Luci, said to Charles and gave him a soft smile before they carefully made their way to the ambulance. They didn't look as bad as the young girl and the couple in the other cars but they were being taken to the hospital just in case. Luci moved over to the other paramedic that was waiting and said that the female in the car was called Molly.

The snow was actually making it impossible to do anything, they couldn't even go that fast out of fear that they would slide off the road and the last thing anyone wanted was to come out and rescue an ambulance that had come off the road and landed in a ditch. Especially when that ambulance had patients in the back.

Luci and Jonathan put Charles in to the back of the ambulance and made sure that both he and Luci were safe in the back before Jonathan got in the driver's seat. They drove off up the winding roads making sure that they were being safe because of the fact they didn't want to get into an accident and have someone come out and help them because of this stupid weather.

Molly however was still out of it when they got her in to the ambulance and she only started to come around on the way to the hospital. The other two cars were taking a little bit longer to deal with because of just how serious they actually were. It was better to be safe than sorry when it came to the accident so they were taking both her and Charles in.

Molly's eyes opened up and everything was a little bit blurry and she was pretty sure she was moving but she wasn't sure if that was because everything was a bit messed up with her sight or whether or not it was because she was actually moving. She took the mask off and then softly she spoke "Charles... where's Charles?"

The male paramedic that she had leaned down to get a better sense of what she was saying and Molly repeated it. "Charles is on his way to the hospital, you will see him soon.. keep the mask on for now Molly" he put the mask back up on to her nose and mouth before she closed her eyes back up.

Charles was booked in to the hospital first and more than his own recovery he wanted to know how Molly was because that was his first priority finding out how his wife was. He was just thankful that Sam wasn't in the car with them because of the fact that he doubted Rebecca would ever forgive him if he had an accident with their son in the car, no matter how it happened. Rebecca would always put the blame on him.

He went for an x-ray but thankfully this time there wasn't anything broken. He was sure that his mother would be really pissed off with him if he hurt his leg again. Charles was pretty lucky this time, other than some bruises from the seatbelt that were going to be a bit sore he had actually come out of it with nothing.

Molly had bruises too from where the seatbelt had tightened against her torso and she had hurt her neck and her head, and she had sore ribs, so they would be keeping her in overnight just to monitor her. Of course she wasn't too pleased about that because of the fact that she would be spending the night in the hospital.

-.-

It was a mother's worse nightmare receiving news that her child was in an accident in hospital so when both Pam and Belinda heard about the crash they actually spoke to one another on the phone. A mother helping out a mother.

Back at the hospital Charles was sitting in Molly's room; he wouldn't know what to do if he had lost Molly too. He had almost lost her for good. If they had had a divorce then at least he would know she was still alive, still out there living her life but if that car accident had been any worse then he would've...

Charles didn't want to think about it. He felt bad enough as it was and when Sam found out, god it would be like he had broken his heart. He couldn't look at his son knowing that he had caused an accident.

"I know that look" Molly said looking over at him, she had been watching him for a moment. Watching as his features changed with every thought no doubt. He was beating himself up over this and Molly didn't want that. It wasn't his fault, the road was still slippery and there was snow still on the ground. She didn't blame him at all. "You're thinking"

"Only about you eating hospital food" he gave her a soft smile. "How you feeling?" Charles leaned forward and took her hand.

"Like I want to go home" she admitted and slid her fingers between his. His hand was warm and she was glad about that. It was still bloody cold out and the last thing she wanted was to actually have cold hands on hers.

"You know you have to stay in here over night just because you banged your head"

Molly sighed; she knew. She didn't like it but she would just have to lump it. She moved her eyes over to look at the window, it was dark and she wondered just how long she had actually been out. "I know what you're thinking..." she spoke after a moment and then looked over at him. "It's not your fault"

"I was driving Molly, I was the one who was behind the wheel and you got hurt because of me.."

Molly carefully sat up and gripped his hand tighter "I don't blame you, It's not your fault that you couldn't stop, the roads are still bad..." she was cut off by Charles taking his hand out of hers.

"Don't do that..." he said standing up and moving around the room. "Don't you make excuses for me... I have to go before I hurt you again, I'm sorry Molly"

Molly could see that he was struggling and she hated seeing him like this "Charles... don't do this again, don't shut me out"

"I'm shutting you out so that you are safe from me..." Charles walked out the room and shut the door behind him.

Molly had actually been surprised that she had a room let alone a door on it and now Charles had left and she couldn't do anything because she was hooked up to a bloody monitor. It might not have been perfect but they had had a good Christmas, she had Charles back and now he was shutting her out again and it hurt so much because like last time it wasn't his fault but something like this was bound to bring Elvis back to his mind.

The door opened up and she thought it was Charles but it was the nurse. "Are you alright, love?"

Molly's bottom lip trembled but she held it together enough for a nod and when the nurse left only then did she start crying. Crying for Charles, crying for herself, for Elvis and even for fucking Georgie. Maybe Molly had been strong for too long, maybe she needed this cry so that she could clear her mind of everything.

Whoever said crying was a weakness was a bloody idiot. Just because someone cries it doesn't make them weak and it certainly didn't make Molly weak either. She had been holding in a lot of stuff and now she wanted to let it all out.

Charles sat down in the small relatives room and put his head in his hands, it hurt his bruises but he would just have to deal with the pain. Molly was the one person he never wanted to hurt and now he had hurt her twice and he definitely didn't want to hurt her a third time.

His head was all over the place and his heart was pounding hard in his chest. How could he let this happen? Maybe he should've done something different or insisted that he kept Sam with him for another couple days til the snow had melted completely or...

Charles knew he could go over everything in his head but in the end he was still the driver and he had hurt his wife yet again. He wasn't getting on well with trying not to hurt Molly.

Molly finally stopped crying before she reached down on to the side cupboard, surprisingly her mobile actually survived, and she grabbed hold of it and saw that her mum had tried to contact her and she quickly sent a message saying that she was alright, that she needed to stay in for the night and she would be out the next day. It wasn't something she wanted to write in a text but right now she didn't want to speak to anyone.

How the hell could she make him see that the accident wasn't his fault? That he needed to stop blaming himself for everything that happens?

Molly was going home tomorrow, she would talk to him then but for now she just wanted to get this hospital stay over and done with. She put her mobile back down on the cupboard and moved down in the bed, it hurt everytime she moved and it would hurt everytime she breathed and sneezed. She pulled the bedding back up to her chest and she stared at the ceiling of her hospital room, again which she was surprised to have, and she tried not to think but every thought she had went back to worrying about Charles and whether he would shut her out completely like last time and end up back with Georgie.

It frightened her to think like that but right now she had no other thought in her head and sadly it haunted her thoughts as she fell in to a sleep and her dreams were of Georgie and Charles again.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day saw Molly waking up and remembering that she had been in the hospital and sadly the night before wasn't just a very bad dream. More than anything she actually wanted to get out of the hospital and back to a house. It would mean that either she headed back to her own flat or stay with Charles again for one more night but he seems eager to not want to be around her just now.

Molly can't pretend to know what is going on inside his head but it looks like he is fighting a huge battle and keeping her at a distance is the only way he can control it. He kept shutting her out after Elvis died too, even though she was the only one who knew what he was going through; Charles wouldn't admit that he was even suffering at all. How can she help someone who can't admit that they are hurting?

So she waited and waited and in the end the waiting just seemed pointless, she would give her opinion on him going back out on another tour but he would never listen to her so in the end she just gave up. In the end she just walked away because that was the only thing she could do for herself.

But this time she wanted to choose another path, this time she so desperately wanted to make him see that he didn't hurt her; that the accident wasn't his fault but again he had shut her out.

The nurse told her that the nice man from earlier had been sitting in her room after she had fallen asleep but had left before she had woken up filled her with a little joy that maybe she could get through to him in the end. That maybe everything overwhelmed him the night before and he hadn't been thinking straight and once he had calmed down and got his thoughts in to check then he had come back to sit with her.

Molly had breakfast but more than anything she just want ed to get out of there because it meant that she could get back in to proper clothes and just head back to Charles' place. Even before she could head home she would have to get her clothes back from his house anyway.

She got a call from her mum and even Sam asking if she was okay. She promised that she was and that she would be leaving the hospital later today. The doctor had to check her over and then allow her to leave. God, she hoped that she was right because more than anything she wanted to get out of here today.

-.-

He shone the light in her eyes but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her eyes or her pupils so he then asked her a few questions. "Any headaches?"

"Nope"

"Nausea?"

"Nope"

The questions carried on and Molly kept saying no because of the fact that she actually felt fine and wanted to just get out of here. She wanted to sleep in a proper bed and not take up any more of their time. The NHS was busy enough without her clogging up a room for the night. More than that she just wanted to get in a shower or bath and actually eat something that tasted like proper food.

"You wouldn't be leading me up the garden path now would you, Molly?" He asked and looked up at her. "Telling me you feel fine just to get out of here?"

"Trust me, if I didn't feel fine then you would know about it, I feel fine just like I did last night, well maybe a bit sore around the ribs but my head feels normal" she admits and shrugs up a shoulder.

"Even if I wanted to keep you in, I couldn't because we can't hold people against their will, if you want to go home then we can't stop you"

"I ain't bullshitting you, Doc" she then gave him a smile because of the fact that she swore and even the doctor himself gave a small laugh before he then went back to his notes.

"Well if you get any headaches, any at all, please don't hesitate to come back" he then signed off on her going home. Even though a part of him wanted to make sure that she was fine but like he said he couldn't keep her in even if he wanted to.

"I will" she smiles at him and then he hands over a piece of paper and she looks down at it. Molly was glad that she was getting out of here tonight.

"Oh, um your husband is waiting outside"

Molly looked up from the paper and in the direction of the window and she chewed on her lip for a moment before looking back at the doctor "Thanks" she mumbled and smiled as the doctor walked out of the room. Her eyes moved over to the window once more and the doctor was talking with Charles and she slipped off of the bed, pulling the curtain around the bed she started to get changed.

It didn't actually take her long and she was pulling her hair back into a messy bun which actually hurt her especially because of the movements on her ribs. She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. Molly was going to ache for a while and she really didn't need that especially with going back to Warminster.

"Molly..."

Molly opened her eyes and looked over at Charles and gave him a soft smile. "Sorry just lost in the clouds for a moment"

"My dad is here if you want to head back to my house..." he said and didn't look at her that much and he scratched at his cheek for a moment before looking back at her, properly this time, Molly didn't actually look that bad. He thought that she would have a few bruises around her head but he guessed that it was mostly around her ribs. He clenched his hand in his pocket. "Ready?"

"Yep..." she muttered and grabbed the paper that the doctor had written on and she signed herself out. Molly smiled at the nurses as she walked with Charles; he had been right, his dad was outside or rather Robert was waiting at the front entrance and then gave her a hug. There was something warm about Charles' dad. At first she wasn't sure if she would actually get on with him because she had come from a different background as Charles but that hadn't mattered because of the fact that they had got on like a house on fire.

Molly sat in the front once more, Charles had held the passenger door open for Molly but then he got in the back. She felt nervous and pulled the mirror down and her eyes met his and he looked away. She let out a shaky breath and then pushed the mirror back up and looked out the side window. This was going to be one awkward ride back.

"We'll take it slow, your mother has been on the phone asking about you Molly" Robert looked over at his daughter in law and smiled softly. "Both women had a right natter"

"That sounds like my mum" Molly replied and smiled softly. Belinda did like to talk but Molly did worry about what else they had spoken about and suddenly she was sure she could feel Charles' eyes on the back of her head and it made her feel a little bit nervous.

Robert started the car and he put the radio on softly so that there was some music on the drive home because from the tension it felt like it would be a very quiet ride. He put his belt on and saw Molly do the same even though she winced a little and he gave her an apologetic smile but it was the only way to keep safe. Not that he was looking to have an accident.

Molly leaned her head against the rest, turning it to the left and closing her eyes up. She would rather pretend to be asleep than actually sit through this quiet ride.

It was quiet for a moment before Robert actually spoke to Charles "Is everything alright with you and Molly?"

Charles kept his eyes out the window and he sighed "Everything's fine, just both tired" he was getting good at lying. Nothing was fine with them and his dad probably wasn't stupid but he didn't say anything else.

A song came on the radio but this time it was something that neither Molly nor Charles wanted to hear. It was _Broken Strings_ by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado and at the moment it seemed to be putting their relationship down to a T.

It made Molly's heart start to pound a little bit harder out of fear more than anything but she didn't open her eyes or even move. The last thing she wanted was to let them know that she had been listening.

The rest of the journey was quiet apart from the music floating through and Molly was actually sure that she had fallen asleep for a little bit.

-.-

When they finally got back to the house Molly was woken up by Charles and she slowly started to come around and tried to look towards him but with him sitting in the back and her in the front it was actually a little bit hard but she sat up properly and wondered just the hell she had fallen asleep in the first place because she ached really badly and she heard the back passenger door open and shut and she watched as Charles walked up to the house.

Molly felt tears bubbling in her eyes but she tried to push them away because of the fact that now wasn't the time to cry. If she could make it through tonight then she would be going home tomorrow. It was New Years Eve tomorrow night and she could celebrate alone in her flat with some drink and pass out before midnight. For now she was just going to have to get through this.

She looked over at Robert and gave him a soft smile but he could see that something was wrong.

"Pam is out at the moment, I'm going to go and be with her so it means the two of you get the house to yourself. Talk it through if you can" he gave her a soft smile and he watched as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out the car. Robert made sure to watch her go in before he got out the car and headed in the direction of the friend that Pam was at right now. Franny had come and got Pam after she heard about the crash and told her to go down to her house for just a steady drink. Now he was going to have to keep Pam away from the house long enough for the two to talk.

Molly walked in and shut the door behind her. She quickly took her coat off and then watched as Charles came out of the kitchen and she hung the coat on the hanger before she turned to him. "So you're going to ignore me for the rest of the night? Because tomorrow it'll be easier when I go back home, is that it?"

"I'm not ignoring you, we just don't have a lot to talk about. I am taking the blame for the accident and I'm sorry about that"

Molly shook her head and sighed "Why can't you see that the accident wasn't your fault? I don't blame you, why can't you accept that?"

"Well you should because if I were you then I would blame me too" he started to walk in to the front room to get away from this conversation.

Molly wasn't going to let him go that easily, she knew that confronting him probably wasn't the right idea but she wanted to get _something_ out of him instead of just short sentences and words that told her she should be blaming him for the stupid accident. "Don't walk away from me this time Charles, stop and talk to me"

"What is there to say?" he asked and turned to her. Charles didn't know what else there was for him to talk about. He was trying to make it as plain as he could but it didn't feel like she was getting it. Charles loved Molly, he loved her with every fibre of his being but she needed protecting from him because he was a complete fuck up right now.

"You walked out on me in the hospital last night and now it's like you can't wait for me to leave but unfortunately for you I can't go anywhere til tomorrow so I'm still going to be here tonight; are you going to act like this all night?"

"What do you want me to say, Molly? Huh? Do you want me to tell you the truth?"

"Yes if that's how we're going to clear the air around here" Molly spoke softly.

"Fine," he nodded. "I want nothing more than for you to stay but it seems like I fuck everything up; I am a hazard and you should run rather than stay, you are better off without me because I'm afriad that I'm going to get you killed..." Charles looked at her hard and then shook his head before looking away. "It could've been Sam in the car too and I definitely would be doing the same"

Molly wanted to walk over to him but if keeping her distance meant that he talked to her then she was going to stay where she was. "Charles, there was already an accident there before we even came around the corner and we both had our seatbelts on, I have minor bruises because of the fact that you didn't do anything wrong; you couldn't stop because of the ice that was already on that road and it if hadn't been you then it would've been someone else"

She watched him and then chewed on her lip for a moment and there was silence between the two of them "This isn't just about the accident is it? It's about Elvis; you think you're a fuck up because of Elvis" Molly didn't have to know what he was thinking or where this would lead because she had hit it right on the head. "You think I'm going to die on you like Elvis did.."

"I told you that I fuck everything up" he rubbed at his forehead and closed his eyes. Charles could still see Elvis coming off that building in his nightmares and now adding this accident would add Molly's face and Sam's too if he wasn't careful. Neither of which he wanted to lose but it felt like he couldn't stop it from happening.

Molly sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment. There was silence in the room once more before she said softly. "I know you don't want to hear this, again, but there was nothing you could've done" she dropped her hand from her nose and looked at him. "Elvis was doing the job that he loved; he had finally made up with the woman he loved and he died happy" she watched his back for a moment. "He could be a reckless bastard when he wanted to be and sure he could've been a bit more careful but Special Forces aren't known for that"

"Don't you think I don't know that?" he asked and turned to look at her. "I know that he was a reckless bastard and that recklessness got him killed but he could've moved off of that bloody box"

"You don't know he would've been any safer, you don't know if the distance would've mattered and it could've endangered more lives; it could've been the others that were taken out with him but Elvis wanted to be the only one it got.. til the end he was doing his job"

"He has a daughter, Molly. Laura is now without her father, how can Debbie..." he was cut off by Molly.

"It's not any different than if it was _you_ that had found that bomb because right now Sam wouldn't have _his_ father, do you think Elvis wouldn't have felt guilty? Do you think he would've been able to look at Sam and be happy in the knowledge that he no longer had a father? Elvis would be devastated just like you are now" Molly was hurting too by saying all of this but it was true. Elvis would've felt like shit too at the fact that Charles had been the victim of the bomb or hell anyone else.

"And what if I had lost you in that car crash I would be without my best friend and my wife..." his heart was pounding hard in his chest and it felt like he was having a hard time to breathe.

"Slowly breathe" she said softly and showed him how to slowly breathe to get himself back under control.

"I ca- I can't do it Molly" he shook his head and was starting to panic, tears were brimming in his eyes because of the fact that it all just felt so much and then his tears just started to fall whether he wanted them to or not. Charles never cries but right now it just got too much for him. He was glad that Sam never saw him like this.

Molly moved over to him and she put her hands against his cheeks and he put his forehead against hers. "I got you" she whispered to him and kept the tears from falling from her own eyes because he didn't need to see her crying too.

Molly held on to him as he just let the tears fall. It wasn't something that she had been used too so when Charles cried she knew it was bad what was going through his mind and he just couldn't deal with it anymore.

"I'm sorry that I ever hurt you with Georgie, I never meant to do that to you" he whispered to her too through his tears.

Molly hadn't expected to hear that from him right now; hadn't expected him to bring up Georgie "Then why did you?"

"Because my head was mixed up and by having Georgie I thought I could keep that connection to Elvis and we relied on each other and it just turned from that but I know in the end what I had done was wrong; Elvis wouldn't have wanted me to fuck up my marriage for him especially when he didn't get to marry Georgie"

Molly let out a shaky breath as they both continued to hold on to each other. "You don't always fuck everything up; I still love you even though I must be bloody mad after everything but I will be here for you; we will take everything slow so that you can heal."

She closed her eyes up and then said softly something that she should've said a little bit earlier. "You didn't lose me, don't think you could even if you tried" she knew that now wasn't the best time to be making jokes because this was a serious matter. She didn't see him smile a little at that.

Charles leaned down and hugged Molly, holding on to her tightly. She buried her head against his shoulder and held on to him. This was going to be a long road; it was going to be hard for him but in the end they would prevail; she believed that.

She just wanted to get this year over and done with and then maybe 2019 will be a little better for them. They had one more day left of 2018 and then they could start afresh.


	17. Chapter 17

Watching Charles cry had been one of the hardest things she has ever watched but he had finally let Molly in to the dark depths of his mind and now they were on a level where he had finally said everything he had been holding back from her. The rest of the day they had talked, whether it be about Sam or this Christmas or even Elvis himself in the good times; they were talking and that was good.

Pam and Robert had come back around three pm but Pam never saw Charles the way that Molly had which had been broken. Charles even seemed to look a bit more relieved that he had finally told her everything that was going on in his head. For so long he had shut Molly out but she was his wife and she had a right to know what was going on in his head.

They were told that they were all invited to a party for NYE the next night and it would be held in Julie's house two doors down. It actually amazed Molly just how close the neighbours were here. She thought it would be like her own back in London where they would rather stay away from speaking to you rather than saying hello. No one ever spoke to Dave anyway mostly because of the fact that he was a twat.

But nope here they were all friendly and it meant a party for Charles and Molly and this time they knew that 2-Section wouldn't be turning up.

So the rest of the night they watched TV and Molly could feel the weight being lifted from her shoulders. Even Charles seemed to be a bit more lighter now that he had got some of what was going on in his mind out in the air. Now they could start to rebuild things, now they could start to put trust in to their relationship; because without trust there wasn't anything worth saving and it would take a while. It was going to be hard but she knew in the end it would be worth it.

-.-

 **New Year's Eve**

New Year's Eve was always a mess because they were celebrating the end of one year and going in to a new one. Molly can't admit that 2018 was one of the worst years she's had on this planet but she hopes that by the end of the night she can leave that in this year and look forward to 2019. They both needed it.

So they ended up going to Julie's house party and it was nice to see everyone that she had been introduced to before and it honestly felt like coming home. Molly started a WhatsApp group with the rest of the guys from 2-Section and they got their messages in early so that it wouldn't be lost in the mass of texts that would be sent at midnight. In her party days Molly would go down to a club and drink the night away only barely making it to midnight but she was glad those days were over because she wasn't sure she could handle the hangovers anymore.

"Don't eat Julie's Vol-au-vents, I think they have seen better days" Charles whispered to her and looked down at his plate. Julie had put a few on there and he had tasted one and while it might sound snobbish he had tasted better at his own mother's parties but right now he really didn't like them.

"I was just looking for the cocktail sausages" Molly joked and smiled over at him.

Charles put two from his plate on to hers because he had got extra for her and gave her a smile. "Thought you might want some" he said and then looked along the table of where the food. "I'm not sure there is any pizza though"

"Is it too late to order one?" Molly asked and checked her watch. It was a little bit late but she was sure she could get one delivered to the house just so they could eat something nice like pizza.

"Julie would probably hit you with her whisk if there was a knock on the door for a pizza" he looked over at Julie who looked like she was a bit frazzled from all the people that had actually turned up but she was still trying to push her pastry cases on to people.

"It won't be that bad..." Molly grinned and moved away from the table and wasn't sure if she was even hungry but she would actually eat something especially when the last thing she really needed was that hangover because of the fact that she hadn't eaten anything.

Charles grabbed what he wanted to eat and then moved over to where Molly was and saw his mum and dad were talking to one of Julie's friends and it felt like it was the first time that he had seen his mother smile in the last few days. Everything had been hard on his parents as well as Molly but he was going to make it up to them.

They ate their food before they were approached by a big hoard of people who wanted to know how Charles was doing and he kept glancing at Molly because he wasn't sure what he should tell them but he just smiled at them and said that he was getting on fine and left it at that. He didn't want to go into great detail on everything but sometimes people didn't understand and would like to push; this time he left it closed and moved the conversation on.

Molly was one of those people who liked to talk about nonesense sometimes and people didn't understand so this time she kept the conversation light but she heard about Mrs R's daughter going to Cambridge University or Mr F's son had moved over to America and for a moment she felt a little bit jealous but she had her Army and she was damn proud of what she had achieved. She wouldn't ever let anyone talk her down; Molly didn't let Shazzer do it and she wouldn't let anyone else either but she found that she didn't have any of that here.

They asked her where she had been stationed and she had told them where she had been and Molly found that they were actually really interested in her adventures and she started to feel a little bit more comfortable.

Molly also found out that talking actually passed the time and one minute she was talking about Afghan and the next Charles was coming to her side to say that it was almost midnight. Julie had put the TV so they could watch the fireworks at The Thames

5..

4..

3..

2..

1..

 **MIDNIGHT**

Big Ben rang out on the TV and the fireworks started on the London Eye and everyone in the room started to wish everyone a happy new year and she smiled as someone got out party poppers. It felt like a kids party rather than a posh adults party. She took the party popper from Charles and pulled it before she turned and looked at him.

"Happy 2019" she spoke with a smile on her lips.

Charles couldn't help it but he pulled Molly in and kissed her lips before he said "Happy New Year"

The rest of the party, which seemed to be going on a while, saw the hard drink being brought out and there was definitely a few drinks of whiskey going around but Molly was more than happy with sticking to the drink that she had and the man that was by her side.

The year just gone hadn't exactly been one that she had expected when it came to her marriage but could she say that she regretted going through it? She would have to say no, yes it hurt her but in the end she hoped that she was stronger for it. Now they could move on from there. 2019 could only move up from there.


	18. Chapter 18

**Epilogue**

 **Christmas 2019**

The year had started off in a positive note or at least as positive as they could get it. As the year really got going Charles got the help he needed and after breaking down to Molly the day before New Years Eve last year he realised that it had finally cleared the air between them. Everything was more transparent.

Charles hasn't spoken to Georgie since the day that he told her goodbye; he has been focusing on getting his relationship back to how it was and getting himself better. He even slowly got the guys of 2-Section back on his side which he was happy about.

Molly has stayed stationed in the UK and she even managed to get a few nights in with Sam using his telescope and he showed her the moon and he even managed to find a few stars too.

Charles would often go back and forth from Molly's flat and Bath so in the end she asked him to move in with her. He isn't afraid to admit that being without the Army is a little hard but with Molly home in the UK he knows that he's in the best hands.

This Christmas they decided that they were going to go away; Sam was sadly with Rebecca so meant that he couldn't go with them but Charles and Molly enjoyed the time together. They were staying in their own little cottage and while it didn't snow this time they made sure that they made it as Christmasy as they could get it; they had their own real tree, brought decs and even had an open fire that would heat the room nicely as they cuddled together.

Christmas day was definitely a noisy one but that was mostly because of the fact that they had rang family and wished them all a happy Christmas; Sam had video messaged Charles and Molly and showed them what he had from Tim and Rebecca and this year Sam would be coming to them the day after Boxing Day; it was a normal day sure but they were still in the 12 days of Christmas so they could get away with it.

That night they were opening presents and Molly had got Charles a few books that he had been wanting to read. She even got him a few other things too. As for what he got her it was a million different things that arranged from Yankee Candles, because she really loved them, jewellry and even some perfume that she wore when she was home. They opened their presents in front of the fire and it was the most beautiful time ever.

"Wait," Molly spoke. "there's a present left" she said and then pointed to the branch of the tree.

"Well grab it and I'll grab a bin bag for these" Charles said and then stood up to go into the kitchen. He peeked around the door and watched as Molly stood up and grabbed the present. Charles smiled to himself and as Molly sat down she looked a little bit confused because her name was on it. He moved away from the door and grabbed that bin bag and walked back into the front room.

"It's got my name on it" Molly held up the wrapped present and looked up at him.

"Well you going to open it or are you going to stare because I know that the paper is pretty but It's probably best if you actually took the present out of the paper to get a better look" Charles started to pick up the wrapping paper that they had disgarded from their presents that they had opened.

Molly looked over at Charles before she ripped into the paper and in it was a small box and she got excited because Charles had got her more earrings. There had been a beautiful pair that she had seen in the jewellers and with him being all coy she thought that was what it was. She opened the box but what she found in it wasn't earrings but a ring. She looked up at Charles and realised that he had got down on one knee.

"I know we said that we would wait out to get married again but this year has definitely been amazing; I know I'm not there completely with the PTSD but with you by my side I know that It will get better; marry me again" he smiled softly "Marry me and become Mrs James or stay as Dawes I don't care which; just marry me and be my wife"

Molly looked down at the ring and smiled as she chewed on her lip; the ring was so beautiful and it was definitely different from the ring he had given her the first time around. "Yes" she said and looked up at him with a grin.

Charles couldn't contain his joy, he took the ring from the box and slipped it on to her ring finger before he kissed her; Molly laughed in the kiss but it was the most joyful noise that he kissed her again and again.

Molly slowly pulled away from his kiss "I have something to tell you too, I am getting that promotion"

"Well that is making this day even more better" he grinned.

"But I can accept it when I get back fully"

Charles got a little bit confused "Get back from where?" he asked; Molly had been stationed in the UK and while he didn't mind her touring, he definitely had been used to having her around. He looked down when Molly handed him a box. "What's this?"

"Open it and find out" she urged him and chewed on her lip once more. Molly wasn't sure how he would react but something told her that he would be very happy.

Charles lifted the lid on the box and in it was a white stick and on the stick it said the word **pregnant.** He looked up at Molly "You're positive?" he asked. He wasn't sure he could actually bear it if it turned out to be false.

Molly nodded "I went to the doctors and I'm 12 weeks and I have to say that keeping it from you had definitely been very hard but Merry Christmas" She smiled and then laughed when Charles kissed her again.

Not only had they got re-engaged on Christmas day but Charles found out they were having a baby. 2020 was definitely going to be exciting to say the least and with Molly by his side there is nothing that he couldn't do.

He was an idiot to have ever let her go in the first place but like they say... it's all in the past now. They had a beautiful and exciting future ahead of them.

And who knows... maybe next year they will get Snowed In again.


End file.
